Biological Families
Author: duane at duaneaakre dot com
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing. Well I own a house, two cars, a pair of jetskis, and a lot of other junk, but none of these characters.
Story Rating: R [The story may drift into the HBO range rather than stay in the WB range, so to be on the safe side, I am rating this R.]
Chapter 2
Lana climbed out of Lex's baby blue '65 Mustang in front of Smallville High exactly forty five minutes before first bell, well before the rush of students would descend for the penultimate Monday of the school year. This was the compromise they had reached before she would allow him to drive her to school. No flashy car, although Lex had drawn the line at borrowing the housekeeper's Taurus. His classic Mustang would almost blend in with the cars some of the students drove and it was not a car he had used around Smallville much. With his newly restored hair and atypical car, if they avoided the peak arrival time, Lex Luthor's chauffeuring of Lana to school might go unnoticed.
They were still undecided on several important matters like if and when they were going to go public with their relationship or how to announce the remarkable return of their parents. For the moment, their parents were staying at the Luthor mansion with them on the outskirts of town. Fortunately, Lex had brought most of his staff from Metropolis so none of them had known Lana's parents and all of them had joined the Luthors in the nine years since Lillian's death. They couldn't hide them there indefinitely, but a few days or a week shouldn't be too difficult.
Lana closed the car door and leaned back in through the open window. "Thanks for the ride, Lex." It felt strange to say it in a public place from her old pre-Lex life, but she quietly added, "I love you."
She secretly wished he would lean over and give her a kiss good-bye, but knew it would be pushing their luck. If she was seen kissing someone who was not Whitney, it would be all over the school before the end of second period. So she had to settle for a warm smile unlike anything he would have shown before their 'Roman' adventure.
"See, my driving you to school turned out okay. Call me at lunch. Luv you, back."
Then after leaving a five foot strip of rubber, Lex shot out of the student parking lot. Lana shook her head, so much for keeping a low profile.
Turning around to face the entrance to the school, she realized no one was paying attention to her or to Lex's departure; loud, souped-up muscle cars were just a part of high school life in semi-rural Kansas. Not seeing anyone she knew well, Lana started to walk towards the building. She might as well go hang out in The Torch's office until closer to the start of her first class, perhaps Clark or Chloe would be there. She wasn't quite ready to admit to herself this was just a tactic to avoid running into Whitney. Since he was a senior and she was just a sophomore, they didn't share any classes. Seeing him at lunch was almost inevitable, but lunch was a good four hours away. Hopefully, by then she would have figured out a way to tell him she wouldn't be going to the dance with him, or anyone else for that matter, as she certainly couldn't go to the school dance with Lex.
Walking down the main hallway past the principal's office and the large trophy case, she couldn't suppress the feeling the things at Smallville High which had always seemed so important now were childishly trivial. How could a pep rally or a local high school football game or a school dance compare to the things she had experienced in the past few days: chariot races in the Circus Maximus and dining with the Emperor of Rome?
And that didn't even address her new, improved body with its almost comic book superhero abilities. Saturday afternoon back in Lex's apartment in Metropolis she had finally had to do the equivalent of 'pinching herself' to convince herself it all was real. In Lex's bathroom she had found a razor in one of the drawers and had used it to make the smallest of cuts in her left index finger. As she expected, after wiping the single drop of blood away, there wasn't the slightest mark on her finger. What had surprised her was the complete lack of pain, only a faint sense of tingling which was gone before it had barely registered. She had been tempted to make a deeper incision, but convinced herself it wasn't necessary and would fall into the category of showing off, even if it was just to herself.
While having a body that could instantly heal was incredible, it didn't have much impact on your day-to-day life, even here at 'meteor freak central'. No, surprisingly it was other aspects of having a nanobot enhanced body that had an impact on her daily life; things she had never fully grasped when Chloe had first admitted to her true past.
Last night she had stopped over at Chloe's house like Chloe had requested before they had gone their separate ways late Friday night in Metropolis. When she entered the house, Chloe had told her Dad they had some 'girl- talk' to do and had led Lana upstairs to her bedroom.
Once they were seated on the bed, Chloe reached over and clasped her hand. Instantly, a mind-link formed between them that went way beyond anything she had yet experienced with Lex. Lex had almost no control over the nanobots in his body and was further limited by their being active only when one of the girls was touching him. What little ability he thought he had to initiate a mind-link with Lana had really been Lana's 'bots working under her subconscious control. And since Lana was experiencing some aspects of her new 'gifts' for the first time she hadn't really understood her true abilities.
However Chloe had spent thousands of years honing her abilities and as they sat on the bed she passed on her vast store of knowledge, not only about the full capabilities of a nanobot enhanced body, but also all of the mundane knowledge of history, science, and the arts she had acquired down through the millennia. Unlike the nearly disastrous results back in the arena, this time Chloe had been fully prepared. The data she passed on didn't include her personal experiences and was careful added to Lana's nanobot memory rather than directly into her brain.
Within seconds it seemed to Lana as though all the knowledge that had ever existed was at her fingertips. Facts, figures, dates, and places. Several times since she had gotten to know Chloe she wondered about her secret to getting good grades without appearing to ever crack a book as she seemed to spend every waking minute going after 'the story'; whether it was the latest meteor freak, or some foible by the school administration. Now, she knew. She knew she too could walk into any classroom, high school or college level, and answer any question, pass any test. And it wasn't just book knowledge Chloe passed along, but also the gift of languages. Suddenly, Lana simply knew she could understand and speak hundreds of languages, not just obvious ones like French, German, Spanish, Chinese (five dialects), and Russian, but also long dead ones like Aramaic, Phoenician, Sumerian, and others she had never heard of. At first she didn't understand why Chloe had included all of the long dead languages, but as the question passed through her mind, Chloe's answer was immediately there: first, after one encounter with a time machine, who knew when a dead language might be needed, and second, with effectively unlimited storage capability, why not?
As Lana mused about her experiences with Chloe during the previous evening, she rounded a corner in the school and ran into Alison Bronson. Hard.
Still lost in her thoughts about her new found language skills, she reached out to keep Allison from falling and without thinking addressed her in French. "I am so sorry, I was lost in my thoughts and wasn't watching were I was going."
Allison, a senior, had been the head football cheerleader when Lana had quit the squad. She was also the president of the French club and Lana guessed that was why she had addressed her in that language.
Allison stared at her in surprise. They hadn't spoken much since Lana had left the team, but Allison knew Lana had been taking Spanish, not French, as one of her electives. Responding to her in kind, Allison said. "Your French is very good. When did you start studying and why aren't you in the French Club?"
Lana shrugged. For an instant, a quote by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus flashed through her head, 'A lair should have a good memory'. Well, she had the good memory, but she was going to have to be careful or she would soon start talking like Lex or Lionel!
"Oh, I have been studying during the occasional quiet times at The Talon. I have been thinking it might be fun after high school to go to Paris for awhile, maybe try to get into an art school over there." Why had those words just popped into her head, and why did they feel so 'right'? "As far as the French Club, not joining comes back to The Talon, too. There is just never enough free time."
Allison thought her French was good, but some of Lana's words had flowed out so fast and smooth she could barely follow. "Lana, you have to at least come to our final 'end of school' get together Wednesday night at the Bistro."
Lana had been tempted to make some churlish remark about how the cheerleaders had always avoided The Talon and now the French Club was having its get-together at the Bistro, but the corridor was starting to fill with other students. If she was going to postpone her encounter with Whitney for a few more hours, she needed to make her escape from Allison now.
Smiling, she answered. "I'll try. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to talk to Chloe Sullivan before class starts."
Hurrying down the hall, Lana just reached the door to The Torch as she saw several members of the football team enter the corridor at the far end. She wasn't sure if Whitney was among them, but let out a sigh of relief as she ducked through the door.
Pushing the door shut behind her, she turned to find Clark stretched out on the coach with Chloe in his arms. She looked at them for a moment before making her presence official, not that either of them didn't know she was there based on their unique 'gifts'. Still, somehow, being back in Smallville made watching Clark and Chloe make out seem wrong even though in Roman the four of them had ended up naked together at the baths on more than one occasion.
"Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt."
After a couple of seconds Clark and Chloe broke their kiss. Chloe disentangled herself and got to her feet. Clark quickly followed suit and ended up standing behind Chloe with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on top of her head.
"Hi, Lana, how are things at the Luthor mansion?" asked Clark.
Lana cast a quick glance around as though she expected the walls to have grown ears. "Shush, we haven't decided how we are going to handle announcing our relationship and I don't want rumors to start floating around school."
"I was talking about your parents."
"Oh, sorry. Well, actually, we haven't decided about that yet either, so we probably shouldn't be talking about it here."
"I was just wondering how they were adjusting."
"Oh, I don't know about Mom, yet, but Dad is hooked on X-box. I swear he has done nothing but play it since we got back yesterday afternoon. I guess it is a huge step up from the Atari and Ms. Pac man in his old life."
"Are they okay with your relationship with 'he who shall not be named'?" asked Clark with a grin at the thought of equating Lex with Voldemort from the Harry Potter books.
Lana flashed him a nasty look to let him know she caught the reference, but transformed it into a big grin to indicate she knew he wasn't serious. "They seem to be handling it okay. I think they are still trying to adjust to the whole concept where I am no longer three years old. Sixteen is such a big step from three; they have to think of me as an adult. So the difference in our ages probably doesn't seem as big as if they had seen me grow up all of these years."
Chloe shook her head a little. "If people are bothered by the age difference between twenty two and sixteen, wait until he is fifty and you still look sixteen."
Lana couldn't help but frown. The topic hadn't really come up since she had awoken in Physics Lab, but it had been in the back of her mind.
"What is it like going through that? The increasing age difference I mean."
Chloe interlaced her fingers in Clark's and squeezed. "It depends on the individual. Once in a great while, it turns out okay and the guy can overlook it and see the real you. But, truthfully, most of the time, you end up just a constant reminder of their own approaching mortality and it eventually rips the relationship apart."
"I thought you said we would probably achieve the level of nanobot technology required to stop the aging process in roughly thirty years," commented Clark.
"Yeah, but by then Le - ahh, 'Voldemort', will be fifty," stated Chloe.
Just as Chloe finished speaking, the door opened.
"What's this about Voldemort?" asked Whitney Fordman, as he entered the room. With a quick glance he took in the three occupants of the room and was pleasantly surprised with the way Kent's arms were wrapped around Chloe Sullivan. He and Kent had had a number of highs and lows in their relationship over the past year. Most of the lows revolved around Kent's sniffing around Lana. But there had been several highs like Kent saving him when his pickup went fireball and again when Kent helped him get clear of the ex-jocks who were into the meteor rock tattoos. And most importantly, based on what he learned later from Lana, how Clark had gotten Lex to bring the Metropolis Sharks pro football team to Smallville so he could have a chance to play with them for his father. That was an incredible gift from someone who sometimes seemed to be trying to steal his girlfriend. Clark was ultimately a good guy and if he had hooked up with Chloe, Whitney couldn't be happier for him.
"Hey, Whitney," said Lana with what seemed to Whitney to be a false cheeriness in her voice. And he couldn't help but notice she made no move to step closer to him. "Turns out Clark and Chloe are two more closet Harry Potter fans."
"Yeah," said Clark and his cheeriness seemed genuine. "I sure wish Rowling would hurry up and get the fifth book out already. I am dying to see what happens during Harry's fifth year. I know there are going to be at least seven books so the big confrontation with Voldemort won't come in the next book, but now that 'you know who' has his real body back, it should ramp things up a notch."
Whitney enjoyed the Harry Potter books even though they were meant for younger readers, but Harry Potter was not very high on his list of priorities today.
"Lana, where have you been? I have been trying to reach you since Friday night. At first, Nelly said you were just going to be very late because of some concert. Then she said you were spending the weekend in Metropolis."
So much for putting things off, thought Lana. "There are some things we need to talk about, Whitney. Walk me to class and we'll talk."
Turning towards the others, she continued. "Clark, Chloe, I'll see you later."
As he watched them leave the office, Clark didn't envy Lana's situation. It must be difficult to break up after having been with someone for years. Not that there hadn't been times in the past year when he hadn't fantasize about Lana having the conversation only with him being the reason. Still, he was glad it wasn't him and hoped he never had this particular conversation with Chloe.
Stepping out into the hall, all of her options for handling this conversation once more raced through her head:
Option A. Break up with no explanation. While that would certainly simplify things in the long run for her, it was hardly fair to Whitney. They had spent three years together and he deserved more than a sudden, unexpected 'Take a hike, buster,' comment.
Option B. Tell him there was someone else, but not specify who. How could she convince Whitney that everything between them had been mostly okay on Friday, but between then and now she had met someone else and fallen in love? If he didn't insist on the truth, he would end up snooping around and would probably find out at least part of it anyway.
Option C. Tell him the truth. But how much? Just about Lex, or the whole time machine story? And what about her nanobots or the return of her parents? Where could she, should she, draw the line?
As these thoughts swirled around in her head, Whitney unexpectedly provided option D.
"Lana, I had planned to take you to a picnic out at Crater Lake yesterday to show you this, but I guess you better see it now." Whitney pulled an envelope out of his pocket, withdrew a sheet of paper, and handed it to her.
Lana glanced down at the page for a second, stopped walking, and looked back up into Whitney's eyes. "The Marines? You joined the Marines and have to report to Camp Pendleton next week?"
Whitney didn't seem to notice that in less than a second Lana had absorbed the entire contents of the document. "Yeah, unfortunately, I have to leave Saturday night to be there on time. I am afraid we are going to miss the dance."
"Whitney, forget about the dance. What about finishing school?"
"I will only be missing the final three days. I have talked to the guidance office and the principal's office, they will let me get my diploma under the circumstances; I'll just be missing the graduation ceremony."
"It seems like you have put a lot of planning into this. Why didn't you tell me?"
Whitney stared down the corridor for a second and noticed how it was emptying out as students made their way into their first period classes. "I thought you would try to talk me out of it. And ever since I found my Dad's medals from Vietnam, well, I have just known I had to do this."
Lana slowly shook her head. "Joining the Marines to honor your father's memory doesn't seem like a good enough reason for such a life altering decision."
Whitney took her hands in his and made her look into his eyes. "That's only a small part of it. I need to get out of Smallville and find my destiny. Originally, I thought the football scholarship would be the way. But after that fell through and then with September 11th, it seemed like joining the Marines and doing something for my country was the right thing to do." He gave a small smile. "Perhaps after my enlistment is up, I'll go to college under the G.I. Bill."
Just then the first period bell started ringing. Whitney leaned in, gave her a quick peck on the lips, and turned to run to his first class. Over his shoulder he shouted, "I'll talk to you at lunch."
Lana was almost in a daze as she walked into her class. This was something she had never seen coming.
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Wednesday morning had dawned bright and early. It was unusual for Lex to be up and going so early, but today he had arrived at the plant while it had still been dark. This unusual occurrence had been the result of a phone call from his father Tuesday morning after his return from Europe. Lionel had said he had a big announcement to make and wanted the entire staff of Fertilizer Plant Number Three assembled at 9 A.M. Wednesday morning when he would be flying in from Metropolis. He wouldn't explain what the announcement would be, but since the plant had shown a profit for the first time in over two years, Lex assumed it would be a well-deserved 'pat on the back' for the entire team.
It had been a frantic twenty four hours getting a viewing stand erected on the south side of the administration building, getting refreshments catered for twenty five hundred people, and making sure the appropriate media coverage from both Smallville and Metropolis would be on hand. But with thirty minutes to spare, everything had been in place.
Now Lex stood and watched as his father's helicopter landed on the west side of the building. Before the large blades had even ground to a halt, Lionel Luthor was out and headed in Lex's direction. As he watched his father's approach, Lex wondered when would be the appropriate time to bring up Lillian. Perhaps after the celebration he would have his father come up to the mansion. He could hardly wait to see the shocked look on his face.
Speaking loudly to be heard over the whine of the jet turbines spooling down, Lionel said, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Lex glanced up at the sky, mostly blue, but with a fringe of gray clouds on the western horizon. However, it wasn't the sky that backed up the forecast he had seen, as much as the humidity, a clammy wetness only found in Kansas in the summer. "So far, but they're calling for storms later."
"Well, you know the heartland; some things can change in a minute."
Lex nodded, but suddenly felt a strange pang in his gut at his father's comment. Lionel never said anything without an ulterior motive. Whatever his father was about to announce, it would not be the expected 'pat on the back' and Lex wondered what new disaster his father was about to thrust upon him.
But there was nothing for it at the moment, but to ride it out. So gesturing forward, Lex led his father around the side of the building to the outdoor platform and the waiting crowd.
As they began to climb the flight of stairs, Lionel asked, "Is everyone assembled?"
"Twenty four hours isn't a lot of notice. Do you plan on giving me a 'heads up' as to the nature of your remarks?"
"Just one of my customary motivational speeches you've hear hundreds of times."
Awaiting them on top of the platform were the six senior managers of the plant. Lionel walked down the line shaking their hands finally reaching Gabe Sullivan, the plant manager.
"How are you, Gabe? And your daughter?"
"Very well, sir. Thanks for asking."
As the managers took their seats, Lex and Lionel turned towards the podium. Before they were in range of the microphone, Lex made a final attempt to deflect his father from whatever malicious action he already foresaw based on the glint in his father's eye.
"Dad, the plant made a profit this quarter for the first time in two years. My people are expecting a pat on the back and they deserve it."
"I'll try not to disappoint them," was Lionel's response followed by a big grin.
Shit, thought Lex. The last time I saw that expression on his face was when we fucked Sir Harry out of his company. What is he about to do?
As Lionel stepped up to the podium, the assembled workers burst forth with a round of applause. Raising his arms, Lionel basked in the feeling of power the cheering crowd brought. For just a moment, he considered announcing bonuses for the entire staff just to heighten the feeling. But quickly it passed, as he remembered the line from The Merchant of Venice, 'To do a great right, do a little wrong'. What he was about to do might be perceived as wrong in the short term, but it was necessary, if Lex was to grow into the man he would need to be to do great things.
Gesturing for quiet, Lionel began. "Thank you. Thank you."
After pausing for a moment to let the crowd calm down so they wouldn't miss his next remarks, he continued. "As most of you know, you've all worked extremely hard this past year and you should all be proud of yourselves."
The workers broke out with renewed cheering. After thirty seconds, Lionel once more motioned for silence.
"Just as a ship can only follow the course set by its captain, any business is only as good as its leadership."
Fuck, thought Lex. Whatever he is about to do, it is going to be blamed on me.
"Due to management failures beyond your control, this plant will be closing, effective immediately."
For a moment, there was stunned silence. Then mumblings and grumblings started spreading through the crowd. Quickly, the noise escalated into full-scale booing and jeering.
"Good luck to all of you," were Lionel's final words before stepping back from the microphone.
As Lionel turned towards Lex, one thought flashed through Lex's mind. Back in Rome, Chloe had explained how she could impose any image she chose into the mind of someone who had been infiltrated with her nanobots. Any image and it would seem perfectly real. At this moment, Lex wished he had that ability over his father as he knew exactly what image he would use. He would send his father directly to Dante's eight level of hell; where horned demons using whips and lances would forever force the tormented to wade through searing, knee-deep molten lava. At each step the leg would be burned away, only to be restored before the next agonizing step.
How could his father just take away the livelihoods of twenty five hundred people and probably destroy the whole economy of Smallville? And for what? Just as some ploy to get Lex to return to Metropolis? The threat alone would have been sufficient to get him to act as his father wished.
Lex forced himself to stay calm; letting his anger loose at this moment wouldn't do his employees any good. No, a threat to his employees might have gotten the reaction Lionel desired, but actually terminating them was going to get a very different result than what he was expecting. Back before she had gotten sick, Lillian could easily keep these 'over the top' stunts by his father in check. Now that she was back, perhaps she would be willing to once more put the fear of god into Lionel.
"Stupid, fucking move, Dad. Even you know a threat is more effective than the actual deed. Once the deed is done, you have lost all of your leverage. If you were trying to force me back to Metropolis, this was not the right approach. Now, let's go up to the mansion and discuss this."
Lionel was a little surprised at this show of backbone by Lex. He had expected whining about the impact on lives of the employees and that Lex was unfairly getting the blame. He knew the threat alone would have gotten Lex back to Metropolis, but it wouldn't have hardened Lex's psyche as he needed.
"Lex, this is about more than just your returning to Metropolis. However, we can discuss that later. I expect you to be in your new office next Monday."
Lex shook his head. "No, father. A lot of things have happened in the past few days while you were on your little buying spree in Europe, things that will affect the future of LuthorCorp. Now, you WILL be at the mansion promptly at four this afternoon. Or I would put the odds at ninety-five percent you will lose control of your company before close of business on Friday and someone else will be sitting at YOUR desk next Monday. I expect you at four o'clock, sharp!"
Then Lex strode away to talk with his managers, leaving Lionel to stare at his back.
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Martha and Jonathan were sitting at the kitchen table reading the special edition of the Smallville Ledger with the banner headline about the closing of the LuthorCorp plant when Clark arrived home from school with Chloe in tow.
"Hi, Mom, Dad," began Clark as he read the headline over his Dad's shoulder. "So, you've heard the news."
"Yeah," said Martha. "News like this travels fast. I had calls from three neighbors within thirty minutes of the announcement. How were things at school?"
"They could just as well have cancelled classes after ten o'clock, nothing useful was being accomplished," answered Chloe.
"How are you and your Dad handling this? It must have been a shock."
"I talked to Dad briefly at lunch and he was pretty shook up. The plant had shown a profit this quarter. He and Lex thought they had finally turned the corner, now this."
Jonathan looked up with a faintly surprised expression on his face. "From Lionel Luthor's remarks in the paper, it sure sounded like the plant was in financial trouble."
Chloe shook her head. "Not according to what my Dad says. I am going to swing by Lex's place a little later and find out what is really going on. I have things that need my attention here in Smallville in the near future. I don't have time to have my Dad being forced to take a new job somewhere else. If this is just some stupid game between Lex and his father, well, I am going to force them to find a solution which doesn't involve closing the plant. I think by now Lex knows better than to piss me off, but maybe it is time to teach Lionel his place in the new order of things."
Martha just stared at Chloe. The strength and power in her tone were unlike anything she had heard from Chloe before. For a moment she didn't seem like the sixteen year old girl who hung around with Clark and Pete. No, her voice sounded like someone who was used to issuing orders and who expected them to be obeyed without question.
But, regardless of her adventures with the time machine and her time at Metropolis University, she was still just a teenage girl.
"Chloe," said Martha in a tone intended to calm her down. "Perhaps you should let your Dad and Lex handle this."
For a moment Chloe turned such a hard stare on her, Martha actually felt herself flinch back in her seat. Then Chloe realized what she had done and forced a small smile onto her face.
"Sorry. I have spent a long time trying to accomplish my goals by working behind the scenes. But our time in Rome reawakened memories of how it is sometimes easier and faster to lead from the front rather than staying hidden in the shadows."
Chloe could see neither Martha nor Jonathan had any idea what she was talking about. After pulling out a chair, she sat down and motioned for Clark to grab another chair.
"I am not who, or what, you think. I know Clark has always shared all of his 'secrets' with you and it has been hard on him to be forced to keep my secrets from you. Since you have done such a good job of keeping his secret, I mean even I didn't have a clue, I think it is time to trust you with part of my secrets, too."
Martha and Jonathan shared a glance that started as 'What the hell?', but segued into 'This is Smallville, expect the unexpected'.
Chloe began with a grin. "I am a little older than I look."
"How much older?" asked Jonathan. With all the strange 'meteor freak' events of the past year, he suddenly realized he wouldn't be shocked if Chloe suddenly announced she was thirty five or forty. Hell, Chloe might be as old as he or Martha, even if she didn't look a day over sixteen.
"Well, it is complicated. I was born seventeen thousand three hundred sixteen years ago, but I have lived through the past one thousand nine hundred sixty five years twice. So from my personal perspective, I have been alive for nineteen thousand two hundred eighty one years."
"Nineteen thousand," whispered Martha.
"Yeah, nineteen thousand. Sometimes number of years boggles my mind and I lived through every one of them. Anyway I am the only survivor of a long forgotten civilization from before the last ice age. Just before its collapse, I was injected with experimental nanobots which keep me from aging and heal any injuries.
"I was forced to reveal my secret to Clark and the others when we ran into someone in ancient Rome who knew me," continued Chloe.
At this point Clark jumped into the conversation, glad to be able to tell his parents the truth. "We had been back there for less than twenty four hours and had been in our first Roman town for less than an hour when this guy walks up, hugs Chloe, and starts this long conversation in Latin. At the time neither Lana nor I spoke any Latin, but it was obvious this guy knew Chloe. It wasn't until later we found out he was her brother-in-law."
"Brother-in-law?" echoed Martha as she tried to absorb what Clark and Chloe were saying.
"Yes," nodded Chloe. She found herself staring down at her hands on the tabletop and forced her eyes up to meet Martha's. "I am not the sweet little sixteen year old I try to project here in Smallville. I have lived life. I have been married many times down through the centuries and have had many, many children. This is part of me and something Clark is still learning to deal with. I hope you can learn to accept me, too."
Martha nodded numbly, but it was obviously an automatic response.
Chloe knew it would take time for what she had said to sink in, but felt is was best to get the rest of it out into the open now, too. "There are other things you need to know so you can understand what is going on. I may be playing the school girl now and I have done it many times before. I have also been the contented housewife a number of times also. But nineteen thousand years is a very long time. I have been many other things too.
"Jonathan, I have been around here enough to know your feelings towards Lionel; that he is a mad for power and will step on anyone who gets in his way."
At this comment, Jonathan couldn't help but nodded in agreement.
Chloe looked him straight in the eye. "Unfortunately, compared to me, Lionel is a rank amateur. There have been times I have ruled vast empires with an iron fist, empires where I could execute anyone, from the lowest peasant to the highest nobleman, at my slightest whim; something Lionel can't even dream of."
Chloe leaned back in her chair. "Mostly, I have grown past the need to have tens of thousands of people shouting my name in adoration. These days I try to work behind the scenes to accomplish what I want, however if Lionel needs to be put into his place, I am perfectly willing and capable of cutting him down to size.
"But we'll see after I talk to Lex. It may be simplest to set up a dummy corporation and buy the plant from LuthorCorp, which might, as a side benefit, get Lionel out of our hair, permanently."
"Buy the plant?" asked Martha.
Clark looked at Chloe and raised an eyebrow. Chloe shrugged in return.
"Mom, Dad. If you added together the wealth of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Lionel Luthor, it would only be a small fraction of Chloe's wealth. The richest person in the world is sitting across the table from you."
Both Martha and Jonathan's eyes widen at this remark. Someone who had lived for thousands and thousands of years was beyond comprehension, but 'the richest person in the world' was more understandable.
Chloe reddened just a little. "Well, you know how it is. A girl stashes away a little here and a little there and over thousands of years, it starts to add up."
Clark grinned. "All that money and you still drive that old battered Corvair. If I had all your money, I think I would have a garage like Lex's."
"Hey, don't go saying mean things about my convertible. It's a classic. And it doesn't go flying off bridges like some Porsches we know. Or catch fire and blow up like a certain old red pickup I could mention."
"Okay, okay. Your car is fine. But still, I could picture you upgrading to a VW Beetle convertible. Hmm, maybe bright yellow to match your hair."
Chloe winked at Clark. "I'll think about it."
"So," began Jonathan trying to turn the conversation back onto the topic of the day. "You are just going to step in and take over the plant to save the town?"
Chloe dragged her thoughts away from a pleasant summer drive in a shiny yellow convertible out to Crater Lake with Clark for a little skinny- dipping session like that long ago first day back in ancient Rome. Only this time it wouldn't just be her getting all naked.
"Only if I can't get Lex and Lionel to find a solution to my satisfaction. And even if I do buy the plant, someone else will be the front man, maybe Lex, if he is interested. Hmm, LexCorp has a nicer ring than LuthorCorp. Anyway, I have more important things to do than manage some minor fertilizer plant."
"Chloe, you mentioned these important plans several times now. What exactly are you talking about?" asked Martha.
Chloe reached over and clasped Clark's hand. "Martha, don't take this the wrong way, but I had almost two thousand years to think about things since the others were forced to leave me behind back in ancient Rome. I decided during that time I would help the others rediscover their families. Well, Lex has his Mom back and Lana has her parents. Now, it is Clark's turn. He is a lot bigger challenge, but I do have a few leads. Anyway, my time machine is not limited to just times and places on Earth; I intend to find and contact his biological family."
Jonathan and Martha just stared at her. They both had highly mixed emotions, being both glad Clark might finally have some of his questions answered and also a little afraid they might lose him.
End of Chapter 2
Author's Notes: A little shorter than my typical chapter, but this seems like a good spot to end this one. In the next chapter: Lionel has a very bad day trapped between the buzz saw that is Lillian and Chloe! If it doesn't run too long, I hope to finish most of the overlap with the season 1 finale in the next chapter. Then be ready for a 90 degree turn as the story finally heads off into virgin territory. I don't understand how so many people can write stories about existing episodes. At least for me, these past couple chapters have been more challenging than writing a completely fresh, new story.
For Rebel Goddess - The general outline for this story is fairly clear in my head. Once we get past the season finale stuff, the rest of the story consists of three fairly stand-alone arcs where Clark's abilities are stretched to new limits, several characters from Superman canon (both good and evil) will be introduced in my own unique way, and of course, the relationships of the main characters will be twisted and tested. At the moment, I don't really see them going to the Shakespearean era during this story. However, during the 'second' arc of the story, I do think Clark and Lex will have to don tights to blend in with the society where they will be forced to travel. I will have to put on my 'research boy' hat and find the proper Shakespearean soliloquy for Lex to espouse to show his annoyance at his required attire. You will just have to be patient for six or seven chapters (i.e. - a few months).
Author: duane at duaneaakre dot com
Disclaimer: As always I own nothing. Well I own a house, two cars, a pair of jetskis, and a lot of other junk, but none of these characters.
Story Rating: R [The story may drift into the HBO range rather than stay in the WB range, so to be on the safe side, I am rating this R.]
Chapter 2
Lana climbed out of Lex's baby blue '65 Mustang in front of Smallville High exactly forty five minutes before first bell, well before the rush of students would descend for the penultimate Monday of the school year. This was the compromise they had reached before she would allow him to drive her to school. No flashy car, although Lex had drawn the line at borrowing the housekeeper's Taurus. His classic Mustang would almost blend in with the cars some of the students drove and it was not a car he had used around Smallville much. With his newly restored hair and atypical car, if they avoided the peak arrival time, Lex Luthor's chauffeuring of Lana to school might go unnoticed.
They were still undecided on several important matters like if and when they were going to go public with their relationship or how to announce the remarkable return of their parents. For the moment, their parents were staying at the Luthor mansion with them on the outskirts of town. Fortunately, Lex had brought most of his staff from Metropolis so none of them had known Lana's parents and all of them had joined the Luthors in the nine years since Lillian's death. They couldn't hide them there indefinitely, but a few days or a week shouldn't be too difficult.
Lana closed the car door and leaned back in through the open window. "Thanks for the ride, Lex." It felt strange to say it in a public place from her old pre-Lex life, but she quietly added, "I love you."
She secretly wished he would lean over and give her a kiss good-bye, but knew it would be pushing their luck. If she was seen kissing someone who was not Whitney, it would be all over the school before the end of second period. So she had to settle for a warm smile unlike anything he would have shown before their 'Roman' adventure.
"See, my driving you to school turned out okay. Call me at lunch. Luv you, back."
Then after leaving a five foot strip of rubber, Lex shot out of the student parking lot. Lana shook her head, so much for keeping a low profile.
Turning around to face the entrance to the school, she realized no one was paying attention to her or to Lex's departure; loud, souped-up muscle cars were just a part of high school life in semi-rural Kansas. Not seeing anyone she knew well, Lana started to walk towards the building. She might as well go hang out in The Torch's office until closer to the start of her first class, perhaps Clark or Chloe would be there. She wasn't quite ready to admit to herself this was just a tactic to avoid running into Whitney. Since he was a senior and she was just a sophomore, they didn't share any classes. Seeing him at lunch was almost inevitable, but lunch was a good four hours away. Hopefully, by then she would have figured out a way to tell him she wouldn't be going to the dance with him, or anyone else for that matter, as she certainly couldn't go to the school dance with Lex.
Walking down the main hallway past the principal's office and the large trophy case, she couldn't suppress the feeling the things at Smallville High which had always seemed so important now were childishly trivial. How could a pep rally or a local high school football game or a school dance compare to the things she had experienced in the past few days: chariot races in the Circus Maximus and dining with the Emperor of Rome?
And that didn't even address her new, improved body with its almost comic book superhero abilities. Saturday afternoon back in Lex's apartment in Metropolis she had finally had to do the equivalent of 'pinching herself' to convince herself it all was real. In Lex's bathroom she had found a razor in one of the drawers and had used it to make the smallest of cuts in her left index finger. As she expected, after wiping the single drop of blood away, there wasn't the slightest mark on her finger. What had surprised her was the complete lack of pain, only a faint sense of tingling which was gone before it had barely registered. She had been tempted to make a deeper incision, but convinced herself it wasn't necessary and would fall into the category of showing off, even if it was just to herself.
While having a body that could instantly heal was incredible, it didn't have much impact on your day-to-day life, even here at 'meteor freak central'. No, surprisingly it was other aspects of having a nanobot enhanced body that had an impact on her daily life; things she had never fully grasped when Chloe had first admitted to her true past.
Last night she had stopped over at Chloe's house like Chloe had requested before they had gone their separate ways late Friday night in Metropolis. When she entered the house, Chloe had told her Dad they had some 'girl- talk' to do and had led Lana upstairs to her bedroom.
Once they were seated on the bed, Chloe reached over and clasped her hand. Instantly, a mind-link formed between them that went way beyond anything she had yet experienced with Lex. Lex had almost no control over the nanobots in his body and was further limited by their being active only when one of the girls was touching him. What little ability he thought he had to initiate a mind-link with Lana had really been Lana's 'bots working under her subconscious control. And since Lana was experiencing some aspects of her new 'gifts' for the first time she hadn't really understood her true abilities.
However Chloe had spent thousands of years honing her abilities and as they sat on the bed she passed on her vast store of knowledge, not only about the full capabilities of a nanobot enhanced body, but also all of the mundane knowledge of history, science, and the arts she had acquired down through the millennia. Unlike the nearly disastrous results back in the arena, this time Chloe had been fully prepared. The data she passed on didn't include her personal experiences and was careful added to Lana's nanobot memory rather than directly into her brain.
Within seconds it seemed to Lana as though all the knowledge that had ever existed was at her fingertips. Facts, figures, dates, and places. Several times since she had gotten to know Chloe she wondered about her secret to getting good grades without appearing to ever crack a book as she seemed to spend every waking minute going after 'the story'; whether it was the latest meteor freak, or some foible by the school administration. Now, she knew. She knew she too could walk into any classroom, high school or college level, and answer any question, pass any test. And it wasn't just book knowledge Chloe passed along, but also the gift of languages. Suddenly, Lana simply knew she could understand and speak hundreds of languages, not just obvious ones like French, German, Spanish, Chinese (five dialects), and Russian, but also long dead ones like Aramaic, Phoenician, Sumerian, and others she had never heard of. At first she didn't understand why Chloe had included all of the long dead languages, but as the question passed through her mind, Chloe's answer was immediately there: first, after one encounter with a time machine, who knew when a dead language might be needed, and second, with effectively unlimited storage capability, why not?
As Lana mused about her experiences with Chloe during the previous evening, she rounded a corner in the school and ran into Alison Bronson. Hard.
Still lost in her thoughts about her new found language skills, she reached out to keep Allison from falling and without thinking addressed her in French. "I am so sorry, I was lost in my thoughts and wasn't watching were I was going."
Allison, a senior, had been the head football cheerleader when Lana had quit the squad. She was also the president of the French club and Lana guessed that was why she had addressed her in that language.
Allison stared at her in surprise. They hadn't spoken much since Lana had left the team, but Allison knew Lana had been taking Spanish, not French, as one of her electives. Responding to her in kind, Allison said. "Your French is very good. When did you start studying and why aren't you in the French Club?"
Lana shrugged. For an instant, a quote by Marcus Fabius Quintilianus flashed through her head, 'A lair should have a good memory'. Well, she had the good memory, but she was going to have to be careful or she would soon start talking like Lex or Lionel!
"Oh, I have been studying during the occasional quiet times at The Talon. I have been thinking it might be fun after high school to go to Paris for awhile, maybe try to get into an art school over there." Why had those words just popped into her head, and why did they feel so 'right'? "As far as the French Club, not joining comes back to The Talon, too. There is just never enough free time."
Allison thought her French was good, but some of Lana's words had flowed out so fast and smooth she could barely follow. "Lana, you have to at least come to our final 'end of school' get together Wednesday night at the Bistro."
Lana had been tempted to make some churlish remark about how the cheerleaders had always avoided The Talon and now the French Club was having its get-together at the Bistro, but the corridor was starting to fill with other students. If she was going to postpone her encounter with Whitney for a few more hours, she needed to make her escape from Allison now.
Smiling, she answered. "I'll try. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to talk to Chloe Sullivan before class starts."
Hurrying down the hall, Lana just reached the door to The Torch as she saw several members of the football team enter the corridor at the far end. She wasn't sure if Whitney was among them, but let out a sigh of relief as she ducked through the door.
Pushing the door shut behind her, she turned to find Clark stretched out on the coach with Chloe in his arms. She looked at them for a moment before making her presence official, not that either of them didn't know she was there based on their unique 'gifts'. Still, somehow, being back in Smallville made watching Clark and Chloe make out seem wrong even though in Roman the four of them had ended up naked together at the baths on more than one occasion.
"Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt."
After a couple of seconds Clark and Chloe broke their kiss. Chloe disentangled herself and got to her feet. Clark quickly followed suit and ended up standing behind Chloe with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on top of her head.
"Hi, Lana, how are things at the Luthor mansion?" asked Clark.
Lana cast a quick glance around as though she expected the walls to have grown ears. "Shush, we haven't decided how we are going to handle announcing our relationship and I don't want rumors to start floating around school."
"I was talking about your parents."
"Oh, sorry. Well, actually, we haven't decided about that yet either, so we probably shouldn't be talking about it here."
"I was just wondering how they were adjusting."
"Oh, I don't know about Mom, yet, but Dad is hooked on X-box. I swear he has done nothing but play it since we got back yesterday afternoon. I guess it is a huge step up from the Atari and Ms. Pac man in his old life."
"Are they okay with your relationship with 'he who shall not be named'?" asked Clark with a grin at the thought of equating Lex with Voldemort from the Harry Potter books.
Lana flashed him a nasty look to let him know she caught the reference, but transformed it into a big grin to indicate she knew he wasn't serious. "They seem to be handling it okay. I think they are still trying to adjust to the whole concept where I am no longer three years old. Sixteen is such a big step from three; they have to think of me as an adult. So the difference in our ages probably doesn't seem as big as if they had seen me grow up all of these years."
Chloe shook her head a little. "If people are bothered by the age difference between twenty two and sixteen, wait until he is fifty and you still look sixteen."
Lana couldn't help but frown. The topic hadn't really come up since she had awoken in Physics Lab, but it had been in the back of her mind.
"What is it like going through that? The increasing age difference I mean."
Chloe interlaced her fingers in Clark's and squeezed. "It depends on the individual. Once in a great while, it turns out okay and the guy can overlook it and see the real you. But, truthfully, most of the time, you end up just a constant reminder of their own approaching mortality and it eventually rips the relationship apart."
"I thought you said we would probably achieve the level of nanobot technology required to stop the aging process in roughly thirty years," commented Clark.
"Yeah, but by then Le - ahh, 'Voldemort', will be fifty," stated Chloe.
Just as Chloe finished speaking, the door opened.
"What's this about Voldemort?" asked Whitney Fordman, as he entered the room. With a quick glance he took in the three occupants of the room and was pleasantly surprised with the way Kent's arms were wrapped around Chloe Sullivan. He and Kent had had a number of highs and lows in their relationship over the past year. Most of the lows revolved around Kent's sniffing around Lana. But there had been several highs like Kent saving him when his pickup went fireball and again when Kent helped him get clear of the ex-jocks who were into the meteor rock tattoos. And most importantly, based on what he learned later from Lana, how Clark had gotten Lex to bring the Metropolis Sharks pro football team to Smallville so he could have a chance to play with them for his father. That was an incredible gift from someone who sometimes seemed to be trying to steal his girlfriend. Clark was ultimately a good guy and if he had hooked up with Chloe, Whitney couldn't be happier for him.
"Hey, Whitney," said Lana with what seemed to Whitney to be a false cheeriness in her voice. And he couldn't help but notice she made no move to step closer to him. "Turns out Clark and Chloe are two more closet Harry Potter fans."
"Yeah," said Clark and his cheeriness seemed genuine. "I sure wish Rowling would hurry up and get the fifth book out already. I am dying to see what happens during Harry's fifth year. I know there are going to be at least seven books so the big confrontation with Voldemort won't come in the next book, but now that 'you know who' has his real body back, it should ramp things up a notch."
Whitney enjoyed the Harry Potter books even though they were meant for younger readers, but Harry Potter was not very high on his list of priorities today.
"Lana, where have you been? I have been trying to reach you since Friday night. At first, Nelly said you were just going to be very late because of some concert. Then she said you were spending the weekend in Metropolis."
So much for putting things off, thought Lana. "There are some things we need to talk about, Whitney. Walk me to class and we'll talk."
Turning towards the others, she continued. "Clark, Chloe, I'll see you later."
As he watched them leave the office, Clark didn't envy Lana's situation. It must be difficult to break up after having been with someone for years. Not that there hadn't been times in the past year when he hadn't fantasize about Lana having the conversation only with him being the reason. Still, he was glad it wasn't him and hoped he never had this particular conversation with Chloe.
Stepping out into the hall, all of her options for handling this conversation once more raced through her head:
Option A. Break up with no explanation. While that would certainly simplify things in the long run for her, it was hardly fair to Whitney. They had spent three years together and he deserved more than a sudden, unexpected 'Take a hike, buster,' comment.
Option B. Tell him there was someone else, but not specify who. How could she convince Whitney that everything between them had been mostly okay on Friday, but between then and now she had met someone else and fallen in love? If he didn't insist on the truth, he would end up snooping around and would probably find out at least part of it anyway.
Option C. Tell him the truth. But how much? Just about Lex, or the whole time machine story? And what about her nanobots or the return of her parents? Where could she, should she, draw the line?
As these thoughts swirled around in her head, Whitney unexpectedly provided option D.
"Lana, I had planned to take you to a picnic out at Crater Lake yesterday to show you this, but I guess you better see it now." Whitney pulled an envelope out of his pocket, withdrew a sheet of paper, and handed it to her.
Lana glanced down at the page for a second, stopped walking, and looked back up into Whitney's eyes. "The Marines? You joined the Marines and have to report to Camp Pendleton next week?"
Whitney didn't seem to notice that in less than a second Lana had absorbed the entire contents of the document. "Yeah, unfortunately, I have to leave Saturday night to be there on time. I am afraid we are going to miss the dance."
"Whitney, forget about the dance. What about finishing school?"
"I will only be missing the final three days. I have talked to the guidance office and the principal's office, they will let me get my diploma under the circumstances; I'll just be missing the graduation ceremony."
"It seems like you have put a lot of planning into this. Why didn't you tell me?"
Whitney stared down the corridor for a second and noticed how it was emptying out as students made their way into their first period classes. "I thought you would try to talk me out of it. And ever since I found my Dad's medals from Vietnam, well, I have just known I had to do this."
Lana slowly shook her head. "Joining the Marines to honor your father's memory doesn't seem like a good enough reason for such a life altering decision."
Whitney took her hands in his and made her look into his eyes. "That's only a small part of it. I need to get out of Smallville and find my destiny. Originally, I thought the football scholarship would be the way. But after that fell through and then with September 11th, it seemed like joining the Marines and doing something for my country was the right thing to do." He gave a small smile. "Perhaps after my enlistment is up, I'll go to college under the G.I. Bill."
Just then the first period bell started ringing. Whitney leaned in, gave her a quick peck on the lips, and turned to run to his first class. Over his shoulder he shouted, "I'll talk to you at lunch."
Lana was almost in a daze as she walked into her class. This was something she had never seen coming.
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Wednesday morning had dawned bright and early. It was unusual for Lex to be up and going so early, but today he had arrived at the plant while it had still been dark. This unusual occurrence had been the result of a phone call from his father Tuesday morning after his return from Europe. Lionel had said he had a big announcement to make and wanted the entire staff of Fertilizer Plant Number Three assembled at 9 A.M. Wednesday morning when he would be flying in from Metropolis. He wouldn't explain what the announcement would be, but since the plant had shown a profit for the first time in over two years, Lex assumed it would be a well-deserved 'pat on the back' for the entire team.
It had been a frantic twenty four hours getting a viewing stand erected on the south side of the administration building, getting refreshments catered for twenty five hundred people, and making sure the appropriate media coverage from both Smallville and Metropolis would be on hand. But with thirty minutes to spare, everything had been in place.
Now Lex stood and watched as his father's helicopter landed on the west side of the building. Before the large blades had even ground to a halt, Lionel Luthor was out and headed in Lex's direction. As he watched his father's approach, Lex wondered when would be the appropriate time to bring up Lillian. Perhaps after the celebration he would have his father come up to the mansion. He could hardly wait to see the shocked look on his face.
Speaking loudly to be heard over the whine of the jet turbines spooling down, Lionel said, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"
Lex glanced up at the sky, mostly blue, but with a fringe of gray clouds on the western horizon. However, it wasn't the sky that backed up the forecast he had seen, as much as the humidity, a clammy wetness only found in Kansas in the summer. "So far, but they're calling for storms later."
"Well, you know the heartland; some things can change in a minute."
Lex nodded, but suddenly felt a strange pang in his gut at his father's comment. Lionel never said anything without an ulterior motive. Whatever his father was about to announce, it would not be the expected 'pat on the back' and Lex wondered what new disaster his father was about to thrust upon him.
But there was nothing for it at the moment, but to ride it out. So gesturing forward, Lex led his father around the side of the building to the outdoor platform and the waiting crowd.
As they began to climb the flight of stairs, Lionel asked, "Is everyone assembled?"
"Twenty four hours isn't a lot of notice. Do you plan on giving me a 'heads up' as to the nature of your remarks?"
"Just one of my customary motivational speeches you've hear hundreds of times."
Awaiting them on top of the platform were the six senior managers of the plant. Lionel walked down the line shaking their hands finally reaching Gabe Sullivan, the plant manager.
"How are you, Gabe? And your daughter?"
"Very well, sir. Thanks for asking."
As the managers took their seats, Lex and Lionel turned towards the podium. Before they were in range of the microphone, Lex made a final attempt to deflect his father from whatever malicious action he already foresaw based on the glint in his father's eye.
"Dad, the plant made a profit this quarter for the first time in two years. My people are expecting a pat on the back and they deserve it."
"I'll try not to disappoint them," was Lionel's response followed by a big grin.
Shit, thought Lex. The last time I saw that expression on his face was when we fucked Sir Harry out of his company. What is he about to do?
As Lionel stepped up to the podium, the assembled workers burst forth with a round of applause. Raising his arms, Lionel basked in the feeling of power the cheering crowd brought. For just a moment, he considered announcing bonuses for the entire staff just to heighten the feeling. But quickly it passed, as he remembered the line from The Merchant of Venice, 'To do a great right, do a little wrong'. What he was about to do might be perceived as wrong in the short term, but it was necessary, if Lex was to grow into the man he would need to be to do great things.
Gesturing for quiet, Lionel began. "Thank you. Thank you."
After pausing for a moment to let the crowd calm down so they wouldn't miss his next remarks, he continued. "As most of you know, you've all worked extremely hard this past year and you should all be proud of yourselves."
The workers broke out with renewed cheering. After thirty seconds, Lionel once more motioned for silence.
"Just as a ship can only follow the course set by its captain, any business is only as good as its leadership."
Fuck, thought Lex. Whatever he is about to do, it is going to be blamed on me.
"Due to management failures beyond your control, this plant will be closing, effective immediately."
For a moment, there was stunned silence. Then mumblings and grumblings started spreading through the crowd. Quickly, the noise escalated into full-scale booing and jeering.
"Good luck to all of you," were Lionel's final words before stepping back from the microphone.
As Lionel turned towards Lex, one thought flashed through Lex's mind. Back in Rome, Chloe had explained how she could impose any image she chose into the mind of someone who had been infiltrated with her nanobots. Any image and it would seem perfectly real. At this moment, Lex wished he had that ability over his father as he knew exactly what image he would use. He would send his father directly to Dante's eight level of hell; where horned demons using whips and lances would forever force the tormented to wade through searing, knee-deep molten lava. At each step the leg would be burned away, only to be restored before the next agonizing step.
How could his father just take away the livelihoods of twenty five hundred people and probably destroy the whole economy of Smallville? And for what? Just as some ploy to get Lex to return to Metropolis? The threat alone would have been sufficient to get him to act as his father wished.
Lex forced himself to stay calm; letting his anger loose at this moment wouldn't do his employees any good. No, a threat to his employees might have gotten the reaction Lionel desired, but actually terminating them was going to get a very different result than what he was expecting. Back before she had gotten sick, Lillian could easily keep these 'over the top' stunts by his father in check. Now that she was back, perhaps she would be willing to once more put the fear of god into Lionel.
"Stupid, fucking move, Dad. Even you know a threat is more effective than the actual deed. Once the deed is done, you have lost all of your leverage. If you were trying to force me back to Metropolis, this was not the right approach. Now, let's go up to the mansion and discuss this."
Lionel was a little surprised at this show of backbone by Lex. He had expected whining about the impact on lives of the employees and that Lex was unfairly getting the blame. He knew the threat alone would have gotten Lex back to Metropolis, but it wouldn't have hardened Lex's psyche as he needed.
"Lex, this is about more than just your returning to Metropolis. However, we can discuss that later. I expect you to be in your new office next Monday."
Lex shook his head. "No, father. A lot of things have happened in the past few days while you were on your little buying spree in Europe, things that will affect the future of LuthorCorp. Now, you WILL be at the mansion promptly at four this afternoon. Or I would put the odds at ninety-five percent you will lose control of your company before close of business on Friday and someone else will be sitting at YOUR desk next Monday. I expect you at four o'clock, sharp!"
Then Lex strode away to talk with his managers, leaving Lionel to stare at his back.
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Martha and Jonathan were sitting at the kitchen table reading the special edition of the Smallville Ledger with the banner headline about the closing of the LuthorCorp plant when Clark arrived home from school with Chloe in tow.
"Hi, Mom, Dad," began Clark as he read the headline over his Dad's shoulder. "So, you've heard the news."
"Yeah," said Martha. "News like this travels fast. I had calls from three neighbors within thirty minutes of the announcement. How were things at school?"
"They could just as well have cancelled classes after ten o'clock, nothing useful was being accomplished," answered Chloe.
"How are you and your Dad handling this? It must have been a shock."
"I talked to Dad briefly at lunch and he was pretty shook up. The plant had shown a profit this quarter. He and Lex thought they had finally turned the corner, now this."
Jonathan looked up with a faintly surprised expression on his face. "From Lionel Luthor's remarks in the paper, it sure sounded like the plant was in financial trouble."
Chloe shook her head. "Not according to what my Dad says. I am going to swing by Lex's place a little later and find out what is really going on. I have things that need my attention here in Smallville in the near future. I don't have time to have my Dad being forced to take a new job somewhere else. If this is just some stupid game between Lex and his father, well, I am going to force them to find a solution which doesn't involve closing the plant. I think by now Lex knows better than to piss me off, but maybe it is time to teach Lionel his place in the new order of things."
Martha just stared at Chloe. The strength and power in her tone were unlike anything she had heard from Chloe before. For a moment she didn't seem like the sixteen year old girl who hung around with Clark and Pete. No, her voice sounded like someone who was used to issuing orders and who expected them to be obeyed without question.
But, regardless of her adventures with the time machine and her time at Metropolis University, she was still just a teenage girl.
"Chloe," said Martha in a tone intended to calm her down. "Perhaps you should let your Dad and Lex handle this."
For a moment Chloe turned such a hard stare on her, Martha actually felt herself flinch back in her seat. Then Chloe realized what she had done and forced a small smile onto her face.
"Sorry. I have spent a long time trying to accomplish my goals by working behind the scenes. But our time in Rome reawakened memories of how it is sometimes easier and faster to lead from the front rather than staying hidden in the shadows."
Chloe could see neither Martha nor Jonathan had any idea what she was talking about. After pulling out a chair, she sat down and motioned for Clark to grab another chair.
"I am not who, or what, you think. I know Clark has always shared all of his 'secrets' with you and it has been hard on him to be forced to keep my secrets from you. Since you have done such a good job of keeping his secret, I mean even I didn't have a clue, I think it is time to trust you with part of my secrets, too."
Martha and Jonathan shared a glance that started as 'What the hell?', but segued into 'This is Smallville, expect the unexpected'.
Chloe began with a grin. "I am a little older than I look."
"How much older?" asked Jonathan. With all the strange 'meteor freak' events of the past year, he suddenly realized he wouldn't be shocked if Chloe suddenly announced she was thirty five or forty. Hell, Chloe might be as old as he or Martha, even if she didn't look a day over sixteen.
"Well, it is complicated. I was born seventeen thousand three hundred sixteen years ago, but I have lived through the past one thousand nine hundred sixty five years twice. So from my personal perspective, I have been alive for nineteen thousand two hundred eighty one years."
"Nineteen thousand," whispered Martha.
"Yeah, nineteen thousand. Sometimes number of years boggles my mind and I lived through every one of them. Anyway I am the only survivor of a long forgotten civilization from before the last ice age. Just before its collapse, I was injected with experimental nanobots which keep me from aging and heal any injuries.
"I was forced to reveal my secret to Clark and the others when we ran into someone in ancient Rome who knew me," continued Chloe.
At this point Clark jumped into the conversation, glad to be able to tell his parents the truth. "We had been back there for less than twenty four hours and had been in our first Roman town for less than an hour when this guy walks up, hugs Chloe, and starts this long conversation in Latin. At the time neither Lana nor I spoke any Latin, but it was obvious this guy knew Chloe. It wasn't until later we found out he was her brother-in-law."
"Brother-in-law?" echoed Martha as she tried to absorb what Clark and Chloe were saying.
"Yes," nodded Chloe. She found herself staring down at her hands on the tabletop and forced her eyes up to meet Martha's. "I am not the sweet little sixteen year old I try to project here in Smallville. I have lived life. I have been married many times down through the centuries and have had many, many children. This is part of me and something Clark is still learning to deal with. I hope you can learn to accept me, too."
Martha nodded numbly, but it was obviously an automatic response.
Chloe knew it would take time for what she had said to sink in, but felt is was best to get the rest of it out into the open now, too. "There are other things you need to know so you can understand what is going on. I may be playing the school girl now and I have done it many times before. I have also been the contented housewife a number of times also. But nineteen thousand years is a very long time. I have been many other things too.
"Jonathan, I have been around here enough to know your feelings towards Lionel; that he is a mad for power and will step on anyone who gets in his way."
At this comment, Jonathan couldn't help but nodded in agreement.
Chloe looked him straight in the eye. "Unfortunately, compared to me, Lionel is a rank amateur. There have been times I have ruled vast empires with an iron fist, empires where I could execute anyone, from the lowest peasant to the highest nobleman, at my slightest whim; something Lionel can't even dream of."
Chloe leaned back in her chair. "Mostly, I have grown past the need to have tens of thousands of people shouting my name in adoration. These days I try to work behind the scenes to accomplish what I want, however if Lionel needs to be put into his place, I am perfectly willing and capable of cutting him down to size.
"But we'll see after I talk to Lex. It may be simplest to set up a dummy corporation and buy the plant from LuthorCorp, which might, as a side benefit, get Lionel out of our hair, permanently."
"Buy the plant?" asked Martha.
Clark looked at Chloe and raised an eyebrow. Chloe shrugged in return.
"Mom, Dad. If you added together the wealth of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and Lionel Luthor, it would only be a small fraction of Chloe's wealth. The richest person in the world is sitting across the table from you."
Both Martha and Jonathan's eyes widen at this remark. Someone who had lived for thousands and thousands of years was beyond comprehension, but 'the richest person in the world' was more understandable.
Chloe reddened just a little. "Well, you know how it is. A girl stashes away a little here and a little there and over thousands of years, it starts to add up."
Clark grinned. "All that money and you still drive that old battered Corvair. If I had all your money, I think I would have a garage like Lex's."
"Hey, don't go saying mean things about my convertible. It's a classic. And it doesn't go flying off bridges like some Porsches we know. Or catch fire and blow up like a certain old red pickup I could mention."
"Okay, okay. Your car is fine. But still, I could picture you upgrading to a VW Beetle convertible. Hmm, maybe bright yellow to match your hair."
Chloe winked at Clark. "I'll think about it."
"So," began Jonathan trying to turn the conversation back onto the topic of the day. "You are just going to step in and take over the plant to save the town?"
Chloe dragged her thoughts away from a pleasant summer drive in a shiny yellow convertible out to Crater Lake with Clark for a little skinny- dipping session like that long ago first day back in ancient Rome. Only this time it wouldn't just be her getting all naked.
"Only if I can't get Lex and Lionel to find a solution to my satisfaction. And even if I do buy the plant, someone else will be the front man, maybe Lex, if he is interested. Hmm, LexCorp has a nicer ring than LuthorCorp. Anyway, I have more important things to do than manage some minor fertilizer plant."
"Chloe, you mentioned these important plans several times now. What exactly are you talking about?" asked Martha.
Chloe reached over and clasped Clark's hand. "Martha, don't take this the wrong way, but I had almost two thousand years to think about things since the others were forced to leave me behind back in ancient Rome. I decided during that time I would help the others rediscover their families. Well, Lex has his Mom back and Lana has her parents. Now, it is Clark's turn. He is a lot bigger challenge, but I do have a few leads. Anyway, my time machine is not limited to just times and places on Earth; I intend to find and contact his biological family."
Jonathan and Martha just stared at her. They both had highly mixed emotions, being both glad Clark might finally have some of his questions answered and also a little afraid they might lose him.
End of Chapter 2
Author's Notes: A little shorter than my typical chapter, but this seems like a good spot to end this one. In the next chapter: Lionel has a very bad day trapped between the buzz saw that is Lillian and Chloe! If it doesn't run too long, I hope to finish most of the overlap with the season 1 finale in the next chapter. Then be ready for a 90 degree turn as the story finally heads off into virgin territory. I don't understand how so many people can write stories about existing episodes. At least for me, these past couple chapters have been more challenging than writing a completely fresh, new story.
For Rebel Goddess - The general outline for this story is fairly clear in my head. Once we get past the season finale stuff, the rest of the story consists of three fairly stand-alone arcs where Clark's abilities are stretched to new limits, several characters from Superman canon (both good and evil) will be introduced in my own unique way, and of course, the relationships of the main characters will be twisted and tested. At the moment, I don't really see them going to the Shakespearean era during this story. However, during the 'second' arc of the story, I do think Clark and Lex will have to don tights to blend in with the society where they will be forced to travel. I will have to put on my 'research boy' hat and find the proper Shakespearean soliloquy for Lex to espouse to show his annoyance at his required attire. You will just have to be patient for six or seven chapters (i.e. - a few months).