A/N - Set in season 6.
6: Branching Out
Clark took Lois' advice and invested in a bigger sofa, though maintained a pretence that her stumbling home in the dark every night didn't wake him.
They'd renewed the lease. He thought she'd rather get her own apartment, but Lois insisted it was easier the way things were. Except he saw less of her the longer they lived together. Not that they "lived together" in that sense, he had to remind himself on more than one occasion. It was easy to forget when they shared everywhere but a bedroom, and she'd made a habit of stealing his shirts.
By Ethan's second birthday, they'd moved on from a quiet and isolated life confined to the neighbourhood. When the cries for help were too hard to ignore, Clark managed a few significant saves while his son slept, safe in their apartment.
'Daddy. Milk.' Ethan pointed to the out-of-reach counter. He sneezed twice, startling himself and catching his father's attention.
Shifting textbooks, Clark handed Ethan the red sippy cup. He fixed his tie with one hand, checking phone messages with the other.
'All gone.' Ethan beamed, waving the empty cup.
He ruffled his son's hair, then scooped him into his arms. Ethan giggled, poking his cheek. Clark sped to the nursery, changing Ethan into a blue shirt that wasn't damp with milk.
The streets were sunny and not too busy at the early hour. Though super-speed would get them to Metropolis University faster, Clark didn't risk it.
'Car.' Ethan pointed.
It zoomed by them. Clark frowned at the reckless speed, but resisted doing something about it. Police cars were in hot pursuit; he hoped they had a handle on things.
He paused at the campus gates to store textbooks in his backpack, while keeping hold of his eager two-year-old.
'The students keep getting younger.' Oliver approached. 'I take it this is him?'
'Ethan.' Clark nodded. He waved, failing to encourage his son to do the same. 'This is my friend Oliver. Say hi?'
Ethan buried his face at Clark's neck.
'Sorry, he's shy.'
'Friend, huh?' Oliver strolled alongside him to the main building. 'It has a nice ring to it.'
'What are you doing here?' he asked. 'Taking a business class?'
'Ha. Very funny. No, actually, I'm here to join your World History thing.' Oliver shrugged. 'You raised some interesting points about learning from a past and all that, so I figured I'd try it - see what the fuss is about.'
'I'm glad you're giving it a chance.' He paused, as a group of chatty students passed them. 'I heard the Green Arrow returned the artefact.'
'Yeah, well, maybe he had a new friend who convinced him it was the right thing to do,' Oliver said.
'Maybe.' Clark nodded. 'Or maybe he doesn't give his hero side enough credit.'
Oliver smiled, then glanced away. 'Hey, man, I appreciated the back-up – and the honesty. Who else knows about you?'
'Just my parents.'
He didn't hide his abilities from Ethan, but his son was too young to understand them.
Clark smiled. He forgot what it was like to have someone know the truth about him. Learning their respective secrets wasn't something he or Oliver intended, yet it worked out. He had someone else he didn't have to hide from. They could be themselves.
'Lucky me,' Oliver said. 'Wait, how is that possible? You're best friends with a reporter, and you live with Lois Lane. How do you stay under the radar with that kind of nosiness on a daily basis?'
He shrugged, keeping hold of Ethan. 'They're usually off chasing a story, especially since they're convinced Lex had something to do with Lionel's plane going down,' Clark said. 'Lois and I share an apartment, that's all. She isn't home much; I barely see her. I guess I've been so busy with Ethan.'
'Yeah. You know, if you ever need a babysitter or an ongoing nanny – I can help. I owe you one.'
'You owe me one?' He shook his head. 'Oliver, you've done more than enough already – college tuition, rent, baby supplies... I don't think we'll ever be even.'
'That's just money.' Oliver made a dismissive gesture. 'What I owe you for runs deeper than that. You can't buy genuine friends or faith in a person, Clark. The least I can do is make things easier for you and Ethan.'
'Thanks, but I'm fine.' He held open the door to their classroom.
'Suit yourself.' Oliver lounged in a seat near the back. 'But if you ever change your mind about hiring a nanny, the offer stands.'
... ~ ...
'Oliver Queen is taking World History at Met U?' Chloe laughed, stashing reports in her desk. 'Did he lose a bet?'
Clark gave her an unamused look.
It was night, but the Daily Planet bustled with activity. Reporters competed over tomorrow's unveiling of the new energy plants, owned by a mysterious Maximus Stone. MaxTech promised to speed up the future of power production by combining solar and mineral sources.
Chloe startled when Ethan crawled by her feet, tracking a robot beetle that scurried away from him.
'A bribery gift from Oliver?' Chloe shook her head in amusement. 'He knows Ethan's just shy at first, right? It's not personal.'
Clark stared at a picture frame on her desk. It was so long ago that he, Chloe, Lana, and Pete had posed for it outside Smallville High. His gaze lingered on Lana until he forced himself to look away.
'She and Jason doing well, by the way. Lots of travelling. She's thinking about starting a foundation for troubled youth,' Chloe said, noticing his attention shift. 'I know you had to move on, but I'm surprised how easily you've let go of your great love. You don't even ask about her anymore.'
'Who, Lana?' Clark sighed. 'There's nothing easy about it, Chloe. I just had to accept that there's no future for me and Lana. Maybe there never was. Ethan's all that matters now.'
'Maybe,' she said. 'Don't get me wrong, it's admirable how you've completely thrown yourself into fatherhood, and are doing everything for that little boy, but do you really think closing your heart off to anything else is setting the best example?'
Ethan playfully roared at his beetle. He freed it from some wires, then giggled as it scurried away.
'He's so little. He needs me to protect him and be there for him,' Clark said. 'Maybe when he's older, there will be room for someone else in our lives, but I don't know if I can take that risk.'
'Okay.' Chloe nodded. 'Just remember, there's a whole world out there, Clark - waiting for you to be a part of it. Who knows, maybe someday you'll want to share that with a special someone?'
'There you are.' Lois huffed, tripping over Ethan. 'Ew. Why are you letting him crawl around here? The floor must reek of stale coffee and desperation.'
'Thanks, Lois,' Chloe dead-panned. 'Any other scathing remarks you'd like to share about where I work?'
'Yeah, your press pass sucks.' She handed it back, to Chloe's surprise. 'I tried getting into one of those new energy plants for an interview, and nada. There's something not right about the amount of tech they're transporting so close to opening. After yesterday's thermal reports, we need to find out what's going on. Fast.'
'We might be able to.' Chloe glanced at Clark, then smiled sweetly at her cousin. 'Think you could watch Ethan for a while?'
'Are you kidding me? I'm the one who uncovered this big mystery and now, instead of playing capable sidekick to help investigate it, I get dumped with baby duty?' Lois frowned. 'How is that fair? Can't we just leave him here to chase this beetle thing in circles a while longer?'
Clark glared at the suggestion.
'I'm sorry, Lo.' Chloe shrugged, smirking. 'You're the one who said you didn't want to fill out an application to join the Daily Planet. These are the cards you're dealt with.'
'Clark didn't fill one out either,' Lois argued, crossing her arms. 'What can he do that I can't?'
She had a point, though Chloe's evasive look implied otherwise. Clark briefly panicked that she might know more than she let on. He was spared having to settle the disagreement between cousins though, as they reached a non-verbal understanding he couldn't hope to decipher.
'Daddy will be back soon, buddy.' He kissed Ethan's forehead, though the boy was more interested in his beetle. 'Thanks, Lois.'
'Yeah, yeah,' she muttered. 'Just don't blame me if that stupid bug meets an untimely end.'
Chloe led the way, driving to the main MaxTech energy plant just outside of Metropolis. It resembled a vast warehouse or factory surrounded by a transport yards. There were towering chain fences, and 24-hour guards. It wasn't a problem for Clark, if only he was alone.
'Are you sure this is a good idea?' He crouched by some bushes at a back fence. 'It's a bit excessive, don't you think, for a story?'
'Clark, this is more than just a story.' Chloe typed away at her laptop. 'The energy readings from these plants are off the charts. There's no way they're generating that much power from the sources they described. If this keeps up, it could be worse than a nuclear blow-up.'
He squinted at the unimpressive building, using x-ray vision to scope it out. Its exterior was deceptive - several hidden rooms inside and below weren't on any blueprints. There were lots of workers and various advanced technology.
He discreetly texted Oliver to give him a heads up about the situation.
'This one seems to be the command center,' Chloe said, analysing the data she'd hacked into. 'The other plants haven't reached this level of extreme yet, but could still do some serious damage if things go wrong. There's some sort of sub-network connecting them all... Oh my god.'
'What?'
'Lois was right.' She stared at the building. 'For whatever reason, Maximus Stone was in such a rush to secure the funding and authority to turn a profit that he ignored all the warning signs. Clark, this building is going to blow long before tomorrow's unveiling.'
'We have to warn someone who can shut it down,' he said. He determined several entries and exit points, thinking of feasible plans to get people out.
'It'd take too long.' She shook her head. 'From the reports Lois gathered over the past few days, it's only a matter of time before we have a major disaster on our hands. In fact, I'd say they're already critical.'
He felt her watching him. The decisive and all-knowing glint in her gaze made him nervous.
'You have to stop it,' she said. 'There's no other way. We don't have time to risk it. Thousands, if not more, people will die if you don't do something.'
'What?' Clark scoffed, stuttering. 'Me? I don't know what you're talking about, Chloe. How can I stop something like this?'
'I'm sorry,' she said. 'I really am. I was okay with waiting until you were ready to tell me, on your terms not mine, but right now there is no other option. You're the only one who can do this. You need to go into Super Clark Mode now. I'll make sure all the workers get out safe – there's at least a dozen fire alarms I can trip.'
'Chloe...'
'We're wasting time,' she insisted. 'I know you can run faster than a speeding bullet, Clark. So go.'
There was a feint warning somewhere deep in the plant. Clark turned to the building, hesitating. Chloe was right. Recovering from the shock of her revelation, he sped to a secluded section of the fence.
His heat-vision melted the wire into an opening. He sped by the guards, crushed a padlock with his fist, and slipped unnoticed into the building. It was an industrial layout, with huge pipes and metal equipment. He kept to the shadows, guided by x-ray vision to reach a restricted, underground floor.
The main chamber was the emptiest room in the plant. Its pressure gauges and energy levels were at critical, yet no alarms sounded to highlight the danger. Clark shuffled through papers and diagrams in a nearby office. Where were all the reports and safety manuals?
Fire alarms went off. From above, people yelled and ran to the exits.
'Thanks, Chloe.'
He was out of his depth. There was no bomb to hug and contain the explosion – it was a complex network of five plants spread across various counties. It was only a matter of time before everything exploded, but one wrong move from him would speed up the process.
There was a pattern; an order which he had to shut them down, but he couldn't focus. All he could think about was Ethan.
Clark faced the command controls. A contained chain reaction would sever power across all five plants – but it could take hours. He couldn't guarantee the main plant would hold out, and those he cared about would be safe. The explosion would devastate Metropolis.
He gripped a lever; the selfish alternative. A sudden shut-down of the main plant could cause a ripple reaction across the other four, endangering not only those workers but also the surrounding suburbs. Metropolis would be fine, but at what cost?
He pulled the lever.
Piercing alarms wailed, then died. Gigantic mineral tanks drained into pools – including a cascading waterfall of refined kryptonite. Clark cried out, overwhelmed by pain and nausea. He collapsed to his knees, unable to move.
Energy levels dropped, and the solar receptor shut down. The ground rumbled as fuses burst in a spider-web pattern, shooting through an electrical network that connected the other plants.
The plant would collapse in on itself, with him trapped inside. Clark groaned, trying to crawl, but the kryptonite continued to drain. He'd never been exposed to this much before. His vision and consciousness blurred. He sprawled on his back, unable to fight it.
'I've got you.' Oliver seized his arm, pulling him to his feet. 'Don't you dare die on me now, Clark.'
For once, the sight of green was a welcome saviour.
... ~ …
'I'm sure Stone's moved on from negotiating profits to arguing who else is to blame. Especially since LuthorCorp is a major shareholder.' Chloe entered an elevator of the Daily Planet. 'It's lucky Green Arrow heard what was going on, and came to check things out, huh?' She shot him an amused look.
'Chloe, we need to talk.' Clark pressed the basement button. 'About... my secret.'
'I promise you, I am very much looking forward to that long and weird conversation.' She smiled. 'But first, we need to check the damage. Are you sure there was no other option?'
He pretended not to hear her. Clark headed to her desk, where Lois stared at the crushed robotic beetle in her hands.
'Daddy.' Ethan ran to him, clinging to his legs.
'Hey, buddy.' Clark grabbed his son, hugging him in relief. 'Daddy missed you a lot.'
Chloe gestured for Lois to get out of her chair so she could use the computer.
'Looks like the other four plants collapsed. The shock-wave damage was... it's pretty bad. Not a lot of death reports, though. Looks like most of them got out in time.' She glanced at her cousin, noticing the beetle. 'Lo, you didn't have to kill it.'
'Me?' Lois shook her head. 'I admit the bug got annoying after a while, but I have no idea what happened. There was just a loud crunch and...'
Chloe avoided her cousin's suspicious gaze. 'It was probably... poor manufacturing?'
Clark stared at his son, who had the proudest smile on his face.
'I got beetle,' Ethan said, demonstrating his capture with squashing gestures.
A/N - Feedback is always appreciated and helpful. Thank you for continuing to read this story - I hope you're enjoying it and the character interactions.
