Last Time...

"Where are you going?"

"Where I need to be right now."

"Then," Claire said, getting up from her seat without releasing her hold on Lex's arm, "I'm going with you."

Lex smoothly removed his arm from her hold and started walking away, feeling assured that this was a bluff. He pulled out his phone from the pocket on the inside of his blazer and called the most practical number he could think to call. A few moments passed, enough for a single ring before a response came.

"Trixie -"

"What are you calling Trixie for?" Claire asked, rifling through her small clutch purse as she teetered along behind Lex in her high heels on their way across the venue to the exit, feeling herself growing more irritated by the moment as he attempted not to acknowledge her. "I'm parked right out front. I'm going with you."

"I don't need you."

"I don't care."

The statement was enough to give Lex a moment's pause. She didn't care? Claire Branigan, who needed so badly to be needed, didn't care? It was clear on his face that he was sorely tempted to ask what she was playing at, but it manifested only in a slight sneer that was tinged with confusion. Claire, however, gave a quiet groan and nudged past him towards the door while Lex said curtly into the phone, "Meet us at LexCorp. Now."

Meet us, Claire realized he had said.

"Let's go," she continued without waiting for Lex to process things any further. "I'm driving."

There were a few seconds of nearly electric pause that seemed to crackle and fizz with the tension between the pair, but this, Lex surmised, was neither the time nor place for it. He gave a curt nod and got into the passenger side of Claire's car.

Months ago, the silence of the car ride would not have been uncomfortable in the least - shared silences had once been calm between them. Now, however, there was a sense as though something needed to be said, a sense that the silence needed to be broken yet both refused to do the breaking. Instead, Claire simply let her foot fall a little heavier on the gas pedal than it usually would, let her hand jerk the steering wheel with a little more force, as though the speed and the extra stimulation of being whipped around in her car could stand in for the conversation that was not happening.

And Claire could see that Lex grew more and more agitated with every moment that passed. The erratic gestures of his hand, the slight twitch at the corner of his lip, all of these things were things that Claire once was able to assuage - but it was no longer her place, she reminded herself. It was painful to watch, but it was no longer her place.

After what felt like hours, she came to an abrupt halt in front of the LexCorp main entrance, across the street from the armored cars and police vehicles which still had their lights flaring. She and Lex both exited her car and walked across the street with even strides, side by side like they had many times before. As they approached, a distraught woman dressed in sweats came rushing in their direction.

"Mister Luthor, Miss B," Trixie, the receptionist, said breathlessly without bothering to avert her eyes from widening at the sight of Claire at Lex's side. "I came right away when I saw the news - the intruders are still on the premises -"

"Did they breach Sub-Level Four Security?"

"No, but -"

"That's what matters the most," Lex said, his eyes momentarily bulging in urgency as he leaned in closer to his receptionist. "You're sure Sub-Four is secure?"

"I'm sure," Trixie said, pulling out her work-issued smartphone and pulling up the security alarm controller app that Lex had created for his staff. A series of bars represented the different levels of the building, and by the looks of things, only the main level had been accessed. Claire's expression shifted into a frown as she realized that Sub-Level Four was clearly home to something Lex did not want seen - something he didn't want her to see.

"Then they're not after money. They're not after any of our innovations," Lex said in a clearly flustered tone, beginning to pace slightly and grit his teeth. "Then who were they and why were they here?"

"Why are they here, you mean," Trixie corrected. "The sensors don't show that they ever left the premises. Last activity seems to be in the back corridor leading to the freight lot."

"Then that's where we'll find them."

"Lex," Claire snapped, finally unable to resist the urge and grabbing him by the arm as he began to stride away. "Leave it to the cops -"

"The cops!" Lex said in a mocking, sing-song tone as he pulled his arm out of Claire's reach and glanced over at the police still standing outside the premises, clearly not acting as though a threat were still present. "Ah. Yes. Because I trust the same people who put me in prison and would like nothing more than to see me back there to neutralize a threat to my company. They don't even know anyone is still inside, and I'm going to handle it myself -"

"You are not," Claire said, her lip curling into a sneer as she grabbed a hold of Lex's arm again, having to try her damnedest not to allow her augmented strength to turn a protective gesture into a threatening one, "going to go in there alone."

Claire waited a few moments before breaking eye contact and leaning over to take off her party heels, casting them to the side. "Let's go around the back before anyone sees us," she said authoritatively, walking off ahead of Lex. He had half the mind to remind her that she no longer had skin in this game, that she should leave - but before he could, as she walked around to the side alley closest to the freight yard and yanked a pole out from a nearby bike rack, wielding it at her side, there was a fleeting sense in Lex's mind that even if Claire had become one of them, one of the undeservedly powerful that he so purported to hate, it was much more favorable to have one of them on his side.

They continued around the entirety of the LexCorp compound towards the small stretch of chain-link fence that marked the only convenient entry and exit point of the back lot. There was still a chain and padlock securely wrapped around the fenceposts, which meant that unless they had climbed, whoever had entered the premises hadn't yet left this way.

"We gotta get in, don't we?" Trixie said. "I'm gonna need to go around front and get the keys -"

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Trixie," Lex interrupted before locking eyes with Claire and raising eyebrows. "What do you think, Claire?"

Claire gritted her teeth and inhaled sharply through her nostrils. If she'd possessed any desire to keep secrets, Lex was making it clear that he would make it near impossible. Without another word, she lifted the pole she'd acquired, jammed the edge into a particularly weak-looking link of chain, and severed it with what the looked like the effort of a gentle push.

"Don't ask," Claire said pointedly to Trixie before pushing open the gate and slowly stepping into the freight yard. "So, are we going into each container one by one or something?" she asked raising an eyebrow.

"Container 575E."

"Why that particular one?" Claire asked reflexively, but as she looked back at Lex, the expression of challenge on his face was indication enough that whatever the reasons were, she probably didn't want to know. She let out a heavy breath and rolled her shoulders before giving the metal pole another gentle circular swing. "575E it is, then. I'm going," Claire said, her teeth gritted as she wheeled around to face Lex. "You're not. You two," Claire said with admittedly more authority than Lex had every heard in her voice. "Stay. Here."

When Claire tried to walk ahead of them, however, Lex merely snickered. Claire turned around to find him shaking his head and clicking his tongue, his eyes slightly squinted in amusement.

"For someone who says that things can't be how they were," he began matter-of-factly, "you've changed very little."

"I'm just doing the right thing."

"And I have always been fascinated by your definition of right."

Claire's instinct was to retort, and if things had truly been how they once were, she would have - but this time, biting the inside of her cheek slightly, she refrained. He would not get a rise of her, she convinced herself. Not now, when there were bigger fish to fry. "We don't have time for this," she said sternly.

"How convenient."

"Do you want me to help you or not?" Claire snapped.

"If I don't?" Lex asked, crossing his arms and tilting his head to one side, his eyebrows raised in challenge. In his own way, he knew somewhere in his mind, he was merely trying to do what Claire had done for him - stop her from doing something clearly illogical and potentially fatal by doing what might hurt her most. He knew nothing would hurt Claire Branigan more than the idea that she was not needed. He had twice denied her. Maybe it would be enough, he reasoned, but reasoned incorrectly.

"Too bad," Claire said with slightly narrowed eyes, turning on her heel and striding in the direction of Container 575E in the row of large metal freight containers.

"You're gonna let her go in there alone, Mister Luthor?" Trixie asked, still hanging a considerable distance back, knowing that some things were simply beyond her pay grade.

"I've found that I have very little influence on what she decides to do."

"Pretty sure you found wrong," Trixie provided. But, in Lex's mind, it mattered very little. Claire was not under his control, and it remained to be seen what that meant for him.

Wielding the iron bar she had pried up on the way, Claire walked along the fence, along the side of the building, and to the entrance to the freight container.

This was a trap. She knew it was a trap, and she was sure that Lex knew it was as well. She looked back at him, noting his expression was strangely unreadable - no misplaced amusement, no indignation at being told what to do. He simply stared at Claire as she moved. Claire inhaled through her nostrils and readied herself before kicking in the door where the padlock had already been knocked clear off. Once she had stepped inside, the corrugated steel door swung shut on its hinges with a mighty creak, leaving her mostly in the dark save for a small stream of light where rust cad corroded a hole in the steel.

The freight container was filled with wooden crates, stacked nearly to the top along the sides in evenly spaced stacks with an empty space in the middle, presumbly for easy loading and unloading. As claire wandered slowly down the rows, she made a note that the crates seemed... off. They seemed to emanate heat, to almost fill the air with vibrations from whatever their contents were. It felt almost as though the contents were alive.

And then, slowly, the vibration in the air was replaced with something else - with sound that grew from faint near-silence to a more discernible volume. Someone was here making the sound.

Someone was laughing.

"Looks like someone has joined our little party," came the quiet, chuckling voice tucked away somewhere in a corner behind Claire. She whirled around to look, only to find her eyes struggling to accommodate the darkness. "Unfortunately, you weren't on the guest list. Looks like... the joke's on you."

Before Claire could react, she felt something hard collide with the back of her head just as her vision went black and she collapsed into a heap on the ground, the pole she had taken as a weapon falling next to her with a clatter.

A/N

I'm sorry I've been missing so long! I've had a lot going on - moved to a new area, got a new job, and my son is now six months old! I'm finally able to get back to writing little by little, and I'm hoping to gradually get back to being more active!

Thank you everyone who continued to send reviews and messages during my long absence - you all are the reason I keep coming back! Thanks for sticking with me and staying onboard! Until next time, cheers!