Something I need-One Republic
I'm going to pretend this wasn't the hardest chapter to write because I was breaking my heart.
When Lex blinked he was on his back, looking up at huge pipes and cracked cement. He rolled over, trying to gain back his equilibrium as well as his sense of placement. For all he could guess, someone hit him with a truck, because he hurt all over. They might have hit him more than once. An electric box on the wall was sparking and with all the water on the floor that was not a sign of good hings to come. A few more blinks alerted him to Clair, blood marring the side of her face from a gash in her hairline. She was unconscious but she was still breathing. It was only then that he regained his memory of exactly where they were and how dire the situation was, and it was about that time he remembered he should be having heart failure.
With some effort, Lex dragged Clair behind some of the larger pipes hoping against hope it would hide them well enough. Being found was not at all a good idea at this point. Even at a later point he was not at all interested in being found. Clair was wonderful but she was not a match for two very strong and terrifying killers from God only knew where in the universe, which was why she was not yet awake.
The situation looked particularly grim, what with two very unfriendly aliens encroaching on their position. Lex had no idea how they ended up where they had considering everything was a bit of a blur after a certain point, but it had only bought them a little time. Just a little longer and they would no longer be hidden and he had a bad feeling things would get messy. They were already catastrophic but the world had a way of making things go down hill even more. He needed to stop thinking; "things can't get much worse" or he would not last very long.
There was a hole in the wall across from where he woke up. Maybe that was how they ended up where they were - through a wall - which explained why he felt like he had been run over but not why there was a hole rather than a flattened body of one Lex Lurthor, but he would work on that later. It was probably thanks to Clair but he was not ready to think on that when his hands were shaking so badly.
"Clair," Lex shouted as loudly as he dared in her ear desperately, shaking her shoulders for all he was worth, "please, you've got to wake up! You have to wake up!"
The aliens he captured were not captured anymore and with the amount of water dripping or even running down the walls to pool on the floor, he was guessing the water being held by the dam was about to be inside with them in relatively short order. There was nothing that sounded good about being trapped in water with two angry alien killer spirit... things. Even less so after one of them not only escaped, but attacked Clair and somehow made itself a bit of a duplicate of her. The other one still floated around but if he heard the two conversing correctly, one had taken her DNA and the other planned to take her body over. Really not a good plan. One already got her form! The other wanted to possess her body like a bad ghost story! No! Lex did not like that plan, he liked Clair being herself, thanks.
Trouble was, he could not drag her out and even if he could, there was no way they would not see him dragging her body slowly out the long hallways. She really needed to be awake.
Things would have been simpler if she never found him in his secret lab to begin with, but it was a little late for that. Honestly, too, had she not arrived when she did he would undoubtedly already be dead. It was her battle with the first escaped alien that actually kept it from ripping out his liver, possessing him, eating or disemboweling him the way it had several others before it was captured. Clair stormed in, fury in her eyes when she confronted him while he was actively running, but the anger did not stop her from pushing him behind her, forcing him through a door into another room to protect him.
That only lasted so long before the fight was brought to him, through the wall, and then through a few other walls. It might have seemed surreal if it wasn't so terrifying. For the moment all he could really do was look for a way to sneak her out. There had to be a back way out. He only ever came one way but he knew there were emergency exits. No one could get in through those but people could get out if they really needed to leave in a hurry and he thought this was one of those cases.
Lex got to his feet, working very hard as he prowled to both keep his sense alert and to make no splashing noise in the stagnating water on the floor. If they could smell him - which he could not imagine with decaying bodies like they had - he would be in very much trouble. Granted, one of them had done something, stolen Clair's shape with whatever freakish ability it had, but he hoped that did not aid it in finding them.
There was urgency pumping in his blood to hurry and find that exit so he could get back to Clair and be assured she was not being devoured while he left her alone. He could hardly endure the suspense of going around every corner or imagining what might be happening behind him if they had found her. His nerves would be shot after today and he would need so much therapy! Not that he could really tell anyone about this unless he planned to end up in a sanitarium, again. Killer aliens was not at all something to go running to doctors about. So he would just need a lot of expensive alcohol to get him over his issues.
When he turned the next corner he thought he might have swallowed his tongue.
It hovered, hovered like some twisted wraith and he was actually more frightened of it than he remembered being of anything. Instinct washed over him like a ton of bricks and it was suddenly very important to run, so he did. His body was shaking and he could not make it stop, mind over matter was not working. That was an actual monster like movies failed to accurately capture, hell, it might have been the inspiration. He had already seen it kill people in such very creative and nightmarish ways that did nothing to slow his heart. He was running blind just trying to get away from that deformed apparition. Then he ran into a brick wall shaped like Clair and he almost didn't realize it really was Clair until she put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.
"Clair," he gasped, "Clair, we've got to get out of here!" Lex told her, tugging at her arm as he moved around her.
She followed but he was made more desperate by how unhurried she was and how totally relaxed she was. Why could she not understand how much trouble they were in? They were about to die! He was panicking and it was not going to stop any time soon unless they got far away from where that thing was.
"It's not after us." She told him, moving a little faster finally, matching his pace.
"Could have fooled me!" He shot back.
"No, it has what it wanted, as do I." She grinned, a twinkle in her eyes, canting her head to one side.
Oh. Oh God. Lex dropped her hand, turning to face her, backing away with eyes wide. It was too late. He really should have noticed sooner, those subtle differences. That stupid red jacket of hers matched with a blue shirt; inverted to make her a little darker. She didn't hunch her shoulders, she walked with her chest out and shoulders back, like an alpha version of herself; she was like she was when on her 'drug of choice' only worse, even darker, with a killer glint in her eye. It took everything in him, but he composed his posture, straightening his spine and squaring his shoulders to face it like a Luthor, strong in the face of terror. No one but the real Clair could see his weakness.
"The Phantom-" He muttered, low and strong with steeled understanding.
"It's all right, Lex." She assured him, voice deeper, sultry, like she had been a smoker too many years or she was one of those girls that talked dirty into a phone. "I don't want to hurt you or kill you."
His eyes darted behind her, searching for signs of the real version. Before he knew it, a new instinct had him trying to push past her to go back into the place he had been trying to escape because his best friend, the girl he loved, was still in there. A hard hand on his chest was enough to stop him because, honestly, he couldn't move her even an inch.
She smiled, serious but almost coy, sweet and sour at once. "I want to be your ally."
Lex stared at her, silent, just focused on holding his stance.
She swayed her hips as she sidled closer, further into his space, her chest brushing his, "It's what you've always wanted, isn't it? A Clair that will tell you everything, every secret. The one thing you have always wanted, the one thing she will never be able to offer. No more lies, no more hiding, just someone as dark as you, willing to accept you exactly as you are." She arched both brows, playful and challenging him to deny it, "We could make a great team. We'll be unstoppable. I'll help you rule the world."
"How would you know what I want?" His voice was tight, controlled strictly.
She was full of easy, confident, sharp smiles, "Because, I don't just have her face, I have all her memories, every last, twisted one of them." Her fingers slide down his bicep gently, resting in the crook of his arm, "She's not as much of an angel as you think. She has bad thoughts too, she's thought about doing bad thing, even thought of killing people, she's just not woman enough to admit it. But she's not afraid to condemn others for feeling the same things, is she?"
The words felt like a burn and some part of him felt they were all true. It was conflicting emotion in battle within him in an instant but he knew where his loyalty was stood. He also, deep down, did not want a Clair that knew exactly how powerful she was and feared nothing from letting her inner demons out. Such a thing was what monsters were made of and the girl he knew was far above that. She was an angel because she turned from that darkness in her heart. That was what angels did, it's what made them trustworthy. Condemning evil kept them from falling prey to it. Moral compass, refusing to be part of the darker hues of light.
"I know what she's done to you, the pain she has caused you." She smiled, sweet, but with darkness at the edge, "I would not make that mistake. I can give you what you want most of all. I can give you power, security, and love all at once. No one could stand in your way again with me at your side."
Maybe part of him wanted that but a larger part blanched and retreated. This version of Clair did not see what he needed her to, what Clair saw, and that was his redemption.
He had no idea how -element of surprise, maybe- but he got around her, running headlong into whatever danger waited behind. With a gasp, he spotted Clair on the ground, where he left her, the monster hovering beside her, slowly, inch by inch, penetrating her body with skeletal-decay or mummified hands. Frozen, he watched it sink up to the elbows. Clair arched up, crying out, eyes screwed shut, in pain when it gained another inch.
Lex rushed forward, crying out wordless please even as arms scooped him up off his feet. The rumble he never noticed, or assumed was in his own ears, got louder and the water started coming in at a good clip. The monster even took notice, lifting Clair's body from what he could only guess was it's grip on her ribs, her body dangling and limp, fully alarming. All he could do was yell and scream his protests without success or response from either monster and it made him feel desperate and helpless and wild. While Lex struggled his own little hellion restrained him with a very extremely firm grip, holding hard enough he was sure to have ugly marks.
His next breath was a gasp as water crashed into him like a wall. Phantom-Clair didn't even budge or seem to have issue persisting through the waves though she did speed up by an extreme; that is until she seemed to decide that act was folly when the walls began to cave a crumple inward. With a fist raised high, she flew up and crashed through layer upon layer of cement, pipe, rebar and anything else with the other alien following close.
They must have looked a sigh, some Gothic macabre magic show, two people being carried by flying creatures from the wreckage of a destroyed mass of construction nightmares. It could have been amusing if one did not have hold of Clair's insides and he was not held in an alien body snatcher's arms. Other-Clair's skin turned, changed, fractured in the light of the sun like a cracked mirror.
Was that what her skin really looked like and light brought it out? She was made of metal? That would explain a few things. Metal could mold itself any way it wanted, but maybe that wasn't what she was at all. At this point he just wanted to wake up and he closed his eyes to see if it would help him block out the fact that he was flying over Smallville for the second time in his life, but this time Clair was the unconscious one. Both incidents ironically involved water and he chuckled madly regardless of how insane it felt.
Lex did not want to see any of this but he had to look, to watch Clair's body sway like a broken doll. Her head was lolled back so far, hair swaying around her as they flew. Once they landed he wished they hadn't because it was so wrong, so wrong. Phantom-Clair said she had her memories but how could she lead them to the barn? It belonged to Clair! It was her safe place and now it was desecrated by these monsters. He clawed at the doppelgangers face uselessly, snarling like an animal, and then snarling again when the ghost creature slammed Clair into the floor, using that pained whine from her to sink it's arm nearly to the shoulders.
Arms curled around his chest like a lover once he was allowed to put his feet on the ground but it was nothing but a cage, "Relax, Lex, there is nothing you can do. It's done. Even I couldn't help her now, even if I wanted to. But you don't need her. I am her, much improved."
"No." He closed his eyes, refusing to let his eyes do what they seemed intent on doing. Luthor's did not cry. Instead he resisted blindly, trying to just get a little closer to the girl struggling on the ground. "You can't do this! Please!" Luthor's also did not beg but he forgot that one for a minute. "You can have my body instead!" Bargaining they did do.
He survived being taken over once, he could survive it again. Besides, so long as Clair was there when he woke everything would be fine. He would never forget opening his eyes in the field with Clair's clothing looking like she tangled with a tiger but otherwise fine and so very worried about him. It had taken a very long time before she let him touch her, didn't flinch initially when he moved a little too fast in her direction. He didn't remember a thing about his time as Zod's vessel but he knew it must have been unpleasant for anyone near him.
The chest at his back rumbled with a deep laugh, "He's already pretty invested in her. He wants her body. It's kind of a revenge thing. Her father locked us up, you know?" He felt her shrug as he worked to get that information into his mind, "No better revenge than stealing the daughter's life."
"She didn't do anything! Fight with her father if he did this to you, not her!" Lex was feeling so desperate and so, so helpless.
"Don't worry. She won't suffer long and then she'll just fade away. It will be peaceful, really." She seemed to be trying to assure him but it wasn't at all helpful. "She won't be lost. I have her memory. It's kind of like having her here."
No, no it wasn't anything like it! Having memories did not make this monster his Clair! When the phantom slid it's ugly head inside her chest, Clair made another pained sound and Lex struggled again, just desperate without hope of making a difference in the inevitable. He used every single move in his fighting repertoire -which was extensive since he had been trained since he was small- that could break or slip a hold. Not a single one of them budged her an inch. God, she was a rock, not human. Unbeatable just like he feared when he found out they existed.
"No!" He whispered, breathless not from the struggle but from emotion.
When she ran her tongue under the corner of his eye he realized he had broken the second Luthor rule with a single tear. Lex let her hold him up, let his head fall back onto her shoulder, let himself be held while she hovered off the ground, because there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even get away from this monster's arms, she was a force he did not know how to stop. Even the best of business men knew when he was beaten, when all options had been closed off. He never gave up but he also was too smart not to see when he had been cornered without escape. If Clair was gone, or would be soon, he didn't even want to fight because there was no reason. Let them have the world.
Was this how she felt? The utter despair and resignation of lost hope? Without his memory he could never know what she suffered while he was not in possession of his body but he believed it could have been like this. She never told him very much about that time, only shut down when he tried to get her to open up. If she felt like this he could see why she never wanted to relive it.
"I'll take you home." She said it like a gift and in a way it was because he wouldn't have to watch that monster destroy the girl he really loved.
Clair glared at the stairs, hoping that no one was going to spot her going inside and also hoping there were no cameras on the back stairwell. The elevator would obviously have one, but the less used and more annoying stairs might not. She doubted she was that lucky but a little hope was about all she had left. If she were back to her normal self she would not be worried even if there was surveillance but without all her tricks of the trade things were a lot more complicated. The door shutting behind her was much too loud even though she tried to muffle it, the sound echoed all the way up the intensely high walls.
How did humans handle the walking thing when they were in a hurry? It took so long to get anywhere and she really did not have the time to just go normal, human speed. It had actually occurred to her when she had been running away from the asylum just how irritating human speed must be for, well, humans. It certainly was irritating her, she could say that! She needed to sneak by people and her own super-speed would have been really great. It had taken an exorbitant amount of time to get herself home, not that it had been what she was expecting once she got there.
Additionally, she heard the noise again, glancing around nervously only to see nothing as usual. There was a strange sound, something like animated thumping, hail hitting a metal roof, but funneled through a long echoing tunnel. It was no normal sound. Sometimes it vanished, sometimes it got louder, but it was decidedly always hovering around the curtain of existence. She sort of wondered if something had been done to her, to her very sensitive hearing, and that was her version of ringing in the ears.
Waking up in an asylum with her powers stolen had been jarring to say the least, but finding Alic in the loft, alive and supposedly owning the farm was more so. Alic with his big perfect smile, round, guileless eyes, and thick blond conservative-cut hair, ever the picture of a normal and perfect life she always hoped to have and it made her sick. To see him there, alive and happy and apparently normal made the pain in her chest flair to life as well as guilt for too many reasons. It had been a while, after all that had happened, since she really missed him or thought of him. It was terrible but true and it felt like a betrayal; she could hardly look him in the eye for that reason.
Alic acted so happy to see her, professing love the way he used to but J'onn said to trust no one; after he and Raya got her out of the Phantom Zone she was more inclined to believe him than she was a ghost; and she was not fool enough to fall for a shape-shifter trick. She told the fake Alic as much, at which point he grew upset, worried, insisting she needed to go back to the hospital for treatment she was supposed to have gotten. Because that was going to happen! Not!
He was convincing in his act but she was not that gullible, though he did give her information. Walking, once again, at fully human speed, she had investigated. She was particularly glad she knew the mansion as well as she did, because she had to sneak in then too. She was doing a lot of sneaking and running and escaping for it having been only about a day.
When she found her mother in the Luthor mansion, obviously drugged and delusional, she realized she should have thrown Lionel through a barn wall when she had been thinking about it last time. He so richly deserved anything he got. Fine might have been a crazy android but he had not been all wrong about Lionel. He had done something with her father and drugged her mother to get her to marry him, which was low even for him. It also made her a little terrified that she had no memory of any of that time, and it had to have been a while for him to have accomplished so much.
Clair raced up the steps, trying not to make too much noise but also trying to be as fast as she actually could be. Ah the humanity, she thought wryly as she began to pant a little from the exertion. Steps were actually a little challenging when you were trying to run. It had never been noticeable before but the nice burning in her calves was really showing her a new side to things. To think she used to make fun of Pete and Chloe in gym class! Shame on her past self!
Honestly, no building had a right to be as tall as the Luthor building, in her humble and relevant opinion. It was a good thing she was in shape, powers or not. Though, she would be at the top and finished finding out anything she came for by now if she had her powers. She wasn't bitter or anything, not at all. Lionel just better watch out when she eventually found out what he did to her! That was all there was to that!
She should have asked Chloe for some advice on being human before she drove off in her car. Chloe was very good at being human, so good that she scooped Clair out of the lion's mouth right when she needed it most. If she was a rich hero she would give her friend a raise, and a big one to the money she was not paying her, for being there. Humans had it rough. Stairs, walking, stairs... but she digressed.
After the thirteenth floor she decided that if they really wanted to catch her, they could just go ahead and try. Climbing the stairs made her have to pee, though she had no idea why, but it annoyed her no less and put her in enough of a foul mood to make her care less who spotted her. Once she had sneaked into the bathroom she decided she was taking the elevator the rest of the way up! She marched out and went right to the elevator, not looking around to avoid seeming guilty, headed for the top. Luckily there was no one to stop her yet, or even notice her. Maybe she looked enough like a janitor that no one really cared considering she was still wearing the janitor uniform from the asylum. It paid to look unimportant sometimes. She would mentally file that away for another time in case she ever needed it.
For now she really needed to focus on the goal. Lex had been on the wrong end of his father and drugs before and he might actually have some ideas, or he might also be in danger. Either way, she convinced Chloe that he was her best option for finding out what Lionel was up to and how to stop him. Neither she nor Chloe ever really trusted the older man and now it was clear they had reason. Jor-El really could pick his oracles! First that linguist that tried to kill her, then a Luthor with some very lofty ambitions to take the place of her AI father, and apparently Martha's husband. How he managed to cover up a Senator vanishing, she did not know, but he must have called in a lot of favors.
To unwind favors she would need someone just as powerful and cunning as Lionel. Chloe relented, mostly agreeing with her, and they parted ways. The last things she remembered was being with Lex, though she did not tell Chloe to be sure her best friend did not jump to the entirely wrong conclusion - because Lex was not collaborating with his father, not ever - but she hoped he might be able to fill in some blank spaces in her memory as to how this happened.
Clair sneaked past the secretary, hardly breathing, and hurried to Lex's office, heart in her throat until she slipped inside and helped the automatic close work a bit faster by applying some pressure.
Lex was seated at his desk, looking over a stack of papers, his hand covered his mouth as his fingers playing around the line of his chin as if he needed something to do. He absently looked up, a bland sort of look on his face until he saw her face. For just a moment there was naked shock and even alarm that flared to life, written clear as day over his handsome, perfect features. Inexplicably she watched his blue-gray eyes harden and chill considerably, not at all the reaction she had expected. It must have been thanks to some lie Lionel spun about her but at least Lex was alive and well, seemingly safe, and that was a relief. Any confusion could be cleared up and then things could finally be back to normal.
He eased his hand down slowly, the bridge over the raging mote around him banging closed, assuming his business rigidity, watching her like he could peel her apart. "My father said you were out," he told her blandly, almost seeming resigned, "I just never thought you'd have the nerve to show your face."
"What?" Clair shut her eyes and shook her head, "No, never mind, look, we need to talk. I don't know what Lionel has told you... but..." she fidgeted, looking at the floor as if it should offer support, "he did something, I don't know what, but I don't have my... powers." That last word had been pretty quiet, "I thought maybe you could help me figure out how, or at least fill in some of the time gaps, help me figure out what has been going on since I've obviously been gone a while."
Lex smiled, humorless, reaching out and taking hold of a glass she had not noticed on his desk, "Your powers... now you've decided my father took them? The last time I saw you, you were screaming about how I was evil and no one could trust me. I was out to destroy the world, now you've decided it's my father?" He shrugged and took a drink like it didn't bother him, "Well, at least this time you're probably closer to the truth."
She blinked owlishly at him a moment, desperately trying to figure out what she must have done to upset him and wondering even more what Lionel had done to her to make her that wild. Why would she have done that to Lex? How could she accuse him of that when she knew how hard he tried to be different from his nature? It must have been drugs, drugs that made her crazy, like the silver meteor had. Whatever she did, she clearly ripped Lex up one side and down the other in whatever haze she had been in. She hurt him, after everything they had been through, she hurt him again. That made her hate the eldest Luthor even more. Maybe he found out they were in love and decided to destroy their bond the only way he could.
She reached a hand forward, beseeching in tone and posture, "Listen, I don't know what I said or did before... I wasn't myself somehow. I'm so very sorry for anything I did after I saw you in the lab."
Oh, wait, right! The lab! She should be a little angry about that but for now she wasn't really over interested. After what happened with Zod she could not totally fault him for trying to keep aliens in a cage; it frightened her and made her vastly uncomfortable that he was studying them, but she understood. They could talk about that when they were in a better place, though it might have something to do with her current condition. There could have been chemicals, poisons, something that started her down this path. Considering the technology in that lab had been intended for aliens it very well could have done something to her. She almost hated to say it, but maybe it had not even been Lionel's fault, just her alien biology doing any number of things, but that did not exactly let him off the hook for stealing her mother... no, it was totally still Lionel's fault, there was no way all of it worked out so well for him without a lot of shoving. Anyway.
Later, later she would deal with it. "All I know, Lex, is that I'm going to try to fix it. Just tell me what's happening and I'll find a way to make all of this work! Just give me a chance-"
"A chance." Lex kept smiling, saying the words with a breathless sense of irony, "You'll fix it." The false humor fell from his face, "What, with your powers? That you don't have?"
She must have really screwed up for him to be this upset and that twisted a knife in her gut, "I want to fix it," she said honestly, "any way I need to. Just tell me what is going on. I won't let your father ruin either of our lives."
Lex huffed in that same humor parody that hurt to look at, swirling the ice in his glass before lifting it to his lips and muttering into it, "Our lives... huh-" he lowered the glass, "you forget our little run in on the Loeb Bridge five years ago too?"
Clair lifted her chin, suddenly defensive, because he was bringing that up now? Again? "You tend to remember saving a rich, playboy's life, as a rule. Why?"
The edges of his mouth turned down and his lips thinned, not a face he would let a reporter capture and show the public, he put his glass down like a declaration, "You really think you saved me?"
And where was this going? Maybe 'you saved me just so you could rip my heart out and stomp on it?' She could see him saying that but she kind of hoped he wasn't going to. At the moment she was feeling low enough for things she did not even remember doing to him. If he could just spit it out and get it off his chest, that would be good. When he insisted on being cryptic and dragging things out, she hated it.
"Well then," he lifted both hands, palms up, "let me refresh your memory."
That sounded ominous but at least she would finally know.
Lex dropped his hands and... oh, good God! He was in a wheelchair! God, no, she hurt him, in her crazed state, she did something to him! Her heart was already pounding, horror running all the way up her spine. No, anything but that! Anything but that! He already survived Zod, he didn't need anymore! She stepped back then forward, unable to decided if she wanted to go to him or flee before he made it around the desk. Both hands clenched at her sides when she saw his legs, the lack of them below the knee, but she refused to cover her mouth like she really wanted to. She has to be in control of her reactions or she might make this worse. Her feet moved her forward, unable to stop herself from getting closer.
If she did this she deserved to see, to stare him in the eye and take whatever he dished out. Whatever he said, whatever he did, she would deserve and she would not deny him by running away like she frequently did when she couldn't face things. Retribution was richly deserved for whatever she had done. It occurred to her that he could hurt her now, she was human; if he tried she would not resist, she knew that too.
"I'll spend the rest of my life in this chair because of you." He told her bitterly, watching her flinch with satisfaction, "You claimed you saw me swerving out of control and you jumped in front of me to save me with your super powers... but when I jerked the wheel, my Porsche flipped end over end and wrapped around the guardrail. We were pinned inside."
That noise she had been hearing got a whole lot louder suddenly. She shook her head, her feet retreating this time, "That's not what happened!"
"If it was up to me, you'd be rotting in jail, but my father insisted you go to that mental hospital instead. Anything to impress Martha Kent with his kindness."
"This... isn't real." She denied more to herself than him, so bewildered she could have fainted.
"Really?" He whispered huskily, and then the rage flooded out as he yelled, advancing on her with the chair this time, "Open your eyes, you crazy bitch! Does this look like a trick to you? I can assure you, it's real!" Then the rage drained away to leave his eyes glistening as he bowed his head for a moment.
Clair inched forward again, unable to help it. No, no, he couldn't cry. He was going to cry, he was hurting, he was upset.
"If there's one thing I regret in my life, it's that I didn't just run you over."
Clair twitched, a flinch through her whole body. Oh, wow, yeah, that hurt. Not that she didn't understand, if what he said was true, she didn't blame him. But suddenly she realized a detail she hadn't before. He had said; "we were pinned inside." Who was the passenger? Who had he yet to name? She could not bring herself to ask. Whatever the answer was she felt sure she did not want to know.
"You did this," he told her, "and it's almost worse if you don't remember! You ruined my life and you're telling me you honestly have no idea?" Lex sounded broken, wrecked, and she had to make that stop.
Clair was on her knees in front of his chair before she knew she'd sunk there, her fingers curling around the icy bars attached to the wheels, "Lex..." there was so much she wanted to say, denials, assurances, apologies, but her mouth settle on, "what can I do? What can I do to fix this? What do you want? What do you need? Name it!" Real or not, it was real to him.
He looked at her, on her knees in front of him, and she saw the flash behind his eyes. She realized exactly what she must look like suddenly, and what must have flickered in his mind as to what she could do to make it up to him. Once he told her she was innocent but she was not innocent enough not to understand a few fundamentals. As much as he hated her, it probably added to the appeal. It was almost a surprise to realize that she would not refuse him if he asked, she would do anything if it meant he might feel a little better. Maybe he saw that in her eyes too, because he blinked down at her a moment, the glacial chill almost thawed, but then it was replaced by a sneer.
"That's kind of the point, isn't it? You can't fit it. Destroying someone's life isn't something you can take back." He told her sagely, but at least the welling tears were gone, he was collected again.
All she could do was stare up at him while her heart fell in little crushed pieces around her on the floor. It was not supposed to be like this. She came so close to losing him to Zod, but even then, she knew he was in there, still loving her. They came through that and things were not supposed to get that bad again. They were supposed to be through the worst that could happen. She had believed nothing could be worse than nearly having to kill him, nearly having him ripped away, but looking into his eyes now showed her she was wrong. Lex not loving her, Lex hating her was worse than knowing all that was left of him was a body.
"Out of curiosity, what do you remember about me? What am I to you, in your little world? Why did you come to me and expect me to help you?"
"You..." she hesitated, working out what she could say, "you're Lex Lurthor, powerful, brilliant, cunning... but you're also kind, good. You help people if you can. You are brave, loyal, you would do anything for your friends. You've always had my back when I needed you." She looked away, licking at her lower lip, struggling. "You are the best friend, my best friend. Since we met, we've always been close. Even though we both have our secrets, we are always there for each other."
He scoffed, "Because you saved my life? Right? Because I would never associate with rural, fruit stand, small town dirt like you otherwise, I would have no reason to look your direction. You're not even intelligent like Martha. Only in a fantasy world would you be worth my time. You and your lost orphan sob story."
All right, ouch, brutal, though not inaccurate, which made it hurt more. Her shoulders curled up to her ears protectively, like pulling into her shell would protect her from the razor words. "Yeah," she admitted quietly, "I've said that before too."
"I suppose I told you otherwise? Did I say you were a hero so you were special?"
"You-" she choked on her own words but tried to keep her voice as even as possible, "you told me you loved me."
Lex laughed, covering his face with one hand, "Of course. I should have known."
Clair leaned forward, unthinking, seeking comfort, and rested her head on the top of his leg, hardly noticing the lack of anything farther than the knee. "I'm sorry."
For not having powers Lex was still fast. He wheeled himself backward before she knew he was going to move. It was almost tangible, the rage and hate, like the air was crackling with unseen flames around him. If he had a gun she would say he would have used it. She knew she made a dire mistake. Lex could be nothing but a floating head and she would not care, would not look at him differently, but such was not the case in his own mind. Seeing as she was the cause of his pain he would be even less inclined to want her as a reminder.
He pointed at her, lips so drawn they weren't even there, both pain and anger, perhaps even shame sharp in his eyes, "Don't ever touch me! You don't ever touch me again! You make me sick, you lunatic! Get out of my sight!" His voice was near to shrill on the last word.
She back away on her hands and knees, head bowed low because she didn't know what else to do and she was crying and didn't want him to catch it. Once she backed away enough she scrambled to her feet and turned for the door. The world was blurry but she knew where everything was well enough not to need to see. The best thing she could do would be to get away. Security might be on the way anyway after all the shouting that had gone on. She couldn't really breathe for holding in the sobs anyway and she kind of needed to get away so she could cry and breathe again.
Again. Again she had lost him. This was no different than if he was dead for he was no less out of reach, perhaps having his hate while he lived felt worse. How many times was she meant to have what she loved snatched cruelly away and be expected to stay sane? Dazed by grief and the sickened understanding, she moved like a wounded doe, staggering like she had been shot as she threw herself out his door and raced for the stairs. The elevator no longer sounded like a good idea. A very fast go down the stairs might do her a bit of good, and if she was lucky she would break her neck and die on the way.
Lex blinked at the floor, hardly noticing it as he walked beside the body snatcher. On the flight over she told him she needed Kryptonite. Survival dictated that he give that phantom what it wanted, do as it said, but he didn't want portion of his spirit not utterly crushed by loss insisted he keep fighting. It was not over till it was over, they said. He had given it what he had stashed in his vault but it insisted politely that it would need more than a few rocks. It was rather interesting the way the rocks lost color when she touched them, like the necklace. Absently, he wondered if Clair could do that as well and that was why the necklace lost its green.
"What is your name, anyway?" He asked to avoid it's question inquiring after more rocks, because he did know where there was more.
"My name is Bizzaro."
At least she didn't insult him by telling him to call her Clair again. If she was in a talking mood he would do his best to get anything out of her he could. Maybe if he let her talk enough he would get information on how to kill the beast. It was worth a try and it was all the fight he had left in him at present. All he could really think about was getting back to that barn. He could still hear the whimper she made as he was being flown away, even past the dog barking. He would not forgive this monster, either monster, for that.
"What exactly are you?"
She smiled sweetly but it did not reach her eyes, "I'm a Kryptonian lab experiment they lost control of. I didn't go as planned, but then, they had that problem often." She leaned in conspiratorially, "Like with Brainiac."
"Brainiac?" He questioned.
"The Brain-Interactive-Construct. You know him as Milton Fine."
Well, at least she was informative.
"How did you find your way here?"
"A mixture of a few variables. Zod, Brainiac, Kara-El. Many things played a part in my escape."
He had to ask but he did not want to, "What are your plans now that you escaped?"
"I'm going to work with you, of course. I'll make you the greatest, most powerful man on the planet. The world will be yours, and maybe even beyond this world if you are feeling ambitious. We get to do anything we want." Her smile was playful and now it did reach her eyes, maybe because she was talking about world conquest, but she persisted, "Now, about that Kryptonite?"
There was little he could really do to put her off so he simply told her where some of his storage of it was. He told her only of the one that would already have been compromised rather than let her anywhere near highly staffed areas. It was as safe a place as he was bound to find. He even offered to drive her and intentionally went the speed limit, though she thankfully did not seem to mind. If anything she seemed relaxed, belying the killer that was seated beside him with her serene smile as she watched things go by. He rather expertly dodged the initial squad of local police that had begun to search. Judging by the low number on the main road they were sneaking around, they had not found the clone bodies yet. Most of the evidence was inside and they had not ventured in. As of yet, with no evidence of injury, they had no reason to rush entering an unsafe structure that should have been empty.
That reminded him, he would need to send a clean up crew to get in there before authorities did so they could clean up the evidence. He shot off a text to get that moving. Had he been in his right mind he would have done that some time ago rather than walking around in a haze and lacking the will of self preservation. There needed to be something left of him once he got Clair back, because he would. He came away from an alien, so could she.
It was a little more than surprising when he saw one of Clair's friends perched on one of the not as crumbled portions of wall. He pulled the car off before they got onto the dangerous zone, the gravel crunching loudly under the tires and alerting the trespassers to visitors. She looked their way, eyes darting up, down and over them like a hawk. She was pretty but intense in a way that made him distrust her. The woman simply had appeared out of thin air but she was a frequent visitor anywhere Clair was so he was less than totally shocked. She had something in her hand but she hid it rather quickly once she saw the car. Her name was Raya, he thought.
It did startle him a bit that Bizzaro seemed interested in the woman too, sitting up a bit when she spotted her. Maybe she was one of the Phantoms and Clair simply had never noticed. Clair was always far too trusting for her own well being. Somehow he would not even be surprised. Fine had hovered around her long enough without her ever noticing, why not another one?
They both got out, though he was intentionally slower about it, not eager to find out what might be waiting next. He was alone against them after all.
"K-Kl-Clair." Raya obviously had issues with that name and her eyes kept drifting to him.
"Hello, Raya!" Bizzaro greeted sunnily.
"Clair," Raya just kept fixing her eyes to him and progressively lowering her voice, "I need to speak with you. I picked up a signal... a disturbance..."
Bizzaro strolled over to her casually, "A beacon? Who?"
Raya finally gave up pretending not to be eyeing him, "Yours, in a way."
"I'm sure it's nothing. If it is, I'll take care of it." Bizzaro was still smiling but he noticed her voice lowering again where she had made sure to keep it like Clair's before.
Then Bizzaro moved and it was so fast he could hardly track it, and then both were moving faster than his human eyes could actively handle. Rock was breaking, stone was suddenly heating, there was glass on the ground when there shouldn't be, and all he could really do was stand there with his mouth hanging open. What the hell? Were they fighting? Then they were less of a blur, locked together in a battle stance and there was fire or a beam of something coming from their eyes and he was feeling very outmatched, enough that he retreated behind his car. It wouldn't do him much good but it made him feel like it would help.
"After all this time, Raya!" Bizarro growled, "Jor-El's little pet! I'm curious, was he your father figure or was he stepping out on Lara with you?"
Raya made a very un-pretty sound and broke the vision thing to lunge at her opponent... meaning that must have struck a cord. Except things went very badly suddenly. Bizzaro's hand was stuck in Raya's side in that signature he had distinguished her with. The other phantom didn't rip out the heart or liver alone, it just shredded victims. This phantom liked to watch a kill. The girl made some horrible chocking sounds but she didn't scream. He however, felt like he swallowed large rocks when Bizzaro ripped something out and tossed it, and it landed on the hood of his car. If he was religious he would be praying, and maybe he was praying anyway because he was whispering words rather desperately without knowing what they were.
The phantom slammed the other girl into the ground, cracking it beneath them and splintering it more as she rained down blow upon blow. Things were on fire again and Lex was fighting not to curl up on the ground. He was afraid and under the circumstances he thought he should be. But as much as the battle worried him, the sudden silence did nothing to make him relax. Bizzaro stood, the manic glee in her eyes only dampened by her obvious injuries. She actually looked pretty bad.
He should have warned Raya, should have said something, but he wasn't expecting her to act, he thought she planned to play the part. He was trying to keep his breathing even and natural and definitely not hyperventilate. It was effort but he kept himself standing straight and kept his expression calm as Bizzaro moved toward him. The girl was dead and he couldn't change that, all he could do was try to stay in control so it didn't happen again.
Lex took several involuntary steps back when the phantom extended her hand to him, but the look of warning she gave him made him come back. He did not want to hold her hand but he did it anyway in hopes it might let him keep it.
"Let's go. I really need the Kryptonite now."
He did not want to go. He wanted to run away but a Luthor did not run.
It surprised him when she dragged the body with them. He did not want to know what she planned to do with it. Rather than thinking too much he just lead the way into the undamaged sections and to the still dry rooms that housed him supply, all undamaged by the flood. She stopped at one end of the room and made him open the door, then made him drag out one of the containers. At that point he was just obeying, doing whatever she asked. When she told him to open in and give some to Raya he hardly paused, though he did wonder what she thought it would do to a dead girl.
He didn't have a syringe so he cupped his hands and did the easiest thing he could think of and pored some into her mouth. When her body arched off the floor and she let out a scream, he was scrambling away in a near crab walk, anything to get away. He watched her convulse and desperately tried to understand why when he thought she was already dead. Her veins began to stand out from her skin, dark green. Horror was not the right word for his emotions as he watched her twist and jerk on the floor until at long last she stilled.
Bizzaro watched her a long while, grin on her face. When she seemed satisfied that it was over she moved forward, cupped her own hands and scooped the green liquid into one of her wounds. She winced, obviously pained, but then he watched the wound fade away and the large container turn white. Was that how Clair healed herself as well? It might make sense.
Lex watched her enter his vault and watched it all light up in a strange sort of show before the green all faded away. It was at that point he wondered what he had done, just how badly he had screwed himself and the world over. He had to do something! How exactly did he fix something like this when he didn't know it's weaknesses, only its strength?
Thunder rolled overhead and Clair glanced at the sky wondering if truly her luck could be quite that poor, that it was really going to start raining on her. It was fitting, she guessed, considering she was standing with her hands deep in her pockets, hunched in her stance, staring up at a penthouse in she was essentially stalking her other world love, she guessed she would deserve to be rained on.
She had been made stupid by her grief, she knew that, but she had no energy to care. Some security detail would notice a girl lurking around and connect the dots, it was inevitable. It just stopped mattering. All she wanted in the world was to have him back and the blinds were up, offering her tiny snatches of him as he moved about. The lights were on inside and it was getting dark outside, letting her see better.
In desperation she even went to the caves and found no drawing, no secret room, not key to Jor-El. Part of her hoped this was an alternate dimension and her real world was still out there but another part of her wondered if she was indeed insane. Wasn't the real sign of insanity that your reality different from everyone else? If the whole world was wrong and differed for your reality, then it probably wasn't the world that was wrong, but you. And, well, her reality was something you found in bad pulp-fiction.
The sky opened up, fat drops of rain falling rapidly and she laughed manically at her reality, unable to hold it back. How pathetic was the world anyway? How pathetic was her real life? Her clothing turned darker one drop at a time, hair starting to dampen, and her skin began to prickle with cold. The cold, that sensation was such a strange one, more than most of the other things. She was getting cold and noticing it. Humanity. That's what it was. Unpleasant. To think she always wanted this when she couldn't have it!
Lex was inside, dry and warm. She was glad for that and could not bring herself to be envious; it was not like she had to stay where she was, she wanted to be here to be near him. There were no other places that were at all like home. The farm was essentially gone even if it was still standing it was not hers. The mansion was home to her worst enemy and a stranger that dressed richly and spoke to her like Clair was a loved pet but dangerous and potentially rabid. The Talon was as desolate as anything she had seen and Chloe's location was unknown.
Her eyes watched the windows, mostly unfocused as she thought about her situation and wondered mildly why she bothered watching what she could no have.
It wasn't long before the rain turned into the kind where she wondered if the sky was trying actively to drown them. It was Kansas after all, where the shy occasionally did have it out for people on land. She could believe it and at times like this it didn't seem far fetched. But Lex wheeled by a window and made her forget the rain.
She had nothing to corroborate what she knew to be true, nothing but her memory, clear and sharp and more real than anything else she had seen. Having no proof, no evidence of all the things they had been through together, all the pain and joy, there was nothing to say they were anything to each other at all. She wished they had taken more pictures together, enough that maybe she could find just one that Lionel had missed in his cover-up that she could hold up as proof that they were something to each other once... that he had been her world, that they would do anything for each other.
She wished they had taken more pictures, if only to give her something to hang onto when he looked at her with dead, hostile, or indifferent eyes. She would give anything to see him look at her the way he used to, like she was his world to. Even his obsession was better than his indifference or worse, his hate; no, his indifference was worst because when he hated her at least there was something in his eyes, a feeling. Hate was not love, it was not the right feeling, but it was still something real and tied to a strong emotion.
Lex looked at most people with calculating, cold, distanced indifference. He was never supposed to look at her that way.
It really made her want to step out onto some highway, and being as she was now, it would actually work rather than denting a car. Granted, she wouldn't do it, but she did have the desire because it would hurt so much less. Krytonite bullets had nothing on Lex and what he could do to her. She felt more lost than she ever had before, even when she found out she was "not from around here."
Her phone buzzed insistently until she opened it, "Clair," Alic's relieved voice crashed into her, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine." She stated simply.
"Clair, have you thought about what I told you?"
"I don't remember the ring. I'm sorry." She had been so raw from her talk with Lex that she's listened when he talked but none of it had made much sense. Alic always had an uncanny ability to find her in either world. She had not been surprised that he was the one to keep figuring out her hiding places. She doubted he would guess she was here though.
"That's fine, it will come with time. We're meant to be together, I know it. If you could accept it, let it in, you'd know it too. I love you so much!"
"I love you too." Clair stopped, eyes wide, horrified by her automatic response. She said it without even thinking, like it was natural, because it had been once. They loved each other once but now all she felt was guilt. "I've got to go." She hung up.
When her nose started to run, an unpleasant and disgusting experience, and her body shook like a leaf, she relented and moved herself to the ramp because there was an awning to keep the rain off her. She sat down, curled into a ball and leaned against the door, trying to stop her teeth from chattering. It was miserable but she was as content as she had been since waking up. Her eyes closed and she willed herself to fall asleep and go back to the place she wanted to be. After a few minutes she did drift into a fitful sort of half sleep, at least until the door jerked open and she toppled onto her back.
Clair found herself looking up, still drenched and probably looking like a drowned rat, at Lex as he glared down.
"You have to be kidding." He rolled his eyes, looking put upon and frustrated, "You seriously were waiting out in a storm? Why, to ambush me when I left tomorrow? You realize you're going to get sick, right?"
Clair ran her sleeve under her nose and sniffled, probably proving him right, and he rolled his eyes again, "No, I wasn't expecting to see you. You kind of just opened the door without warning."
"Then why, may I ask, were you stupidly camping out on my door?" He growled, getting agitated.
"I..." She shifted into a sitting position, akimbo at the base of his chair trying to ignore the discomfort of wet clothing, "guess I didn't know where to go. When I don't know what to do or I need advice, you're the one I always go to. You're really the only person I always listen to. You always know what to do. You're always right and you're always there for me. I listen to you over anyone, as much as it annoys my parents. Coming here, sitting on your porch was as close as I could get."
She didn't say she just wanted to be near him even if she couldn't be with him.
"So you decided to sit in the rain for a few hours?" He asked, incredulous.
She shrugged her shoulders in answer, eyes downcast. At least the floor around the door was tile so she wasn't destroying his expensive looking carpet, but it was cold.
Lex shut the door and wheeled away, leaving her there only to reappear and throw a couple towels at her face. Lucky for her, even without powers she still have good reflexes. She wrapped the longest one around herself and used the smaller one to dry her hair as much as she could. He simply watched her, studying her like a prospective client or enemy.
"Thanks." She offered, because she was thankful and it was rude not to. "I'm surprised you let me in after-" Well, forget the after part.
He linked his fingers under his chin, still studying her, "I shouldn't have. You deserve to catch pneumonia and die."
"You never were one to pull punches." She muttered, but he heard.
"Don't talk like you know me!" He snapped.
Clair frowned, made more irritable by being cold, "I do know you! We've been friends for years! You just don't remember! I don't know what happened while I was out, but something did! Maybe we're both in a nightmare, I couldn't tell you yet, but I intend to figure it out with or without your help. Your father is behind it and it's going to get fixed."
His eyes grew hard and angry but he didn't say anything at first, "My father is quiet brilliant. He made sure you were put on trial for what you did to me and Lana together. You were declared not guilty. Not because anyone thought you were innocent but 'by reason of mental defect.' That way, if Lana ever died you've already been tried and it couldn't be brought up again even if you recovered you sanity. If they tried to put you on trial there'd be that verdict to contend, making it nearly impossible to pin you down. Brilliant really, since he wanted your mother."
Clair's mouth went dry and she suddenly found it harder to breathe, "Lana? She was with you?"
His upper lip curled, "Yes, and she's been in a coma since, condition never changed. You knew her from your town." He slapped an open palm on the armrest, "She was in the peace corp, she was a humanitarian with everything to give the world until you snuffed out her light! She did more good than you ever could, even in that dream world of yours but you still dare to act like the victim?"
Lana in a coma? She did that? Part of her wondered what happened to Lana in this alternate world but she'd just been hoping things worked out better for her. It seemed she ruined Lana's life no matter what she did or where she was. If this was an alternate reality she fell into, it wasn't a kind one. No one was much better off, or at least few were. Maybe more people lived normal lives without the meteors but who was to say they never met a fate just as bad? But then, from the sound of it, Lana only met a bad end because of her, just like Lex had. She was the catalyst for bad things in any world, now wasn't she? How utterly depressing.
"She was my whole world!" He bellowed, but the fight drained from him alarmingly fast, "Can you understand that?"
Tears spilled over and down her cheeks, and all she managed was a quiet, shaky, "Yes. Completely."
On the show Clark only ever fought phantoms one-on-one, but I was curious what would have happened if they teamed up. Bizzaro proved willing to work with Brainiac to achieve a goal. (Since Lana never got powers and burst into Lex's lab, our evil AI won't be getting out of that tube any time soon either) So why not a phantom that could be just as interested in working with a partner? Just a theory I played with.