Make Damn Sure-Chapter 2

I posted this chapter before but, I was unhappy with its readability-everything was just too close together. So I reformatted it! Hope this one is easier!

Disclaimer: Who me? Couldn't be?! Then who?!...not mine at all. shame. a real shame

Lex Luthor stood stolidly in the window to his new, fully refurbished penthouse in Metropolis, Kansas; home of Luthorcorp and it's fledgling company, LexCorp. From where he stood, all of Metropolis,

'Hell, all of the world,"

Lex thought, was beneath him. None of it was worth morals or trying to do good in the world.

'The only thing worth fighting for in this world is power.'

Because, as Lex now felt, power was the only thing that people responded to; respected, loved, and understood. Feelings had always been messy but, payrolls are very neat. They all had his name at the bottom; he was in power.

'Especially now, since dear old Dad's death'

The older Luthor had passed on from a seemingly normal heart-attack. Lex thought it might have been murder but, it wasn't him so, he decided not to investigate it.

"Rest in peace, Father," Lex spat out bitterly.

He took a long swig from his glass, the whiskey no longer burned his throat. In any actuality, it was soothing to it.

'The first sign that you have a problem, Lex old boy.'

He turned away from the darkening skyline and observed the space in front of him. It was all silver, white, and black. Metal and leather.

'This doesn't look very comfortable at all. Lana would hate it.'

Lex was still confused about the relationship he had shared with Lana Lang. She had seemed to love him, for who he was without any changes. He had certainly thought that he was in love with her. But, after she left him, he realized that he had really just loved the planning. The game of catch and release that he had been playing when she was with Clark.

'Not that Clark deserved her.'

Except, Clark did deserve her. If Lana would have made Clark happy, why didn't he deserve that?

'Because he lied to you. Tried to kill you. Betrayed you. Forgot you just like everyone else.'

He had built Lana up in his mind to be the solution to all problems but, she was just as human as everyone else. She got confused.

'Far too many times'

She believed everything he told her.

'It was too easy.'

In the end, that was what the problem ended up being. Lex felt bored in the relationship. And, apparently, Lana felt 'stifled and molded'. She had said that morning, the morning she left, that she felt like she just changed from guy to guy; she never had a chance to see who she was. He had told her that he loved her and would like to help her find herself.

She just smiled and said "I can't find me if I'm trying to be the perfect girlfriend for you."

It was a shame, really. Lana had photographed really well next to Lex. So, he had moved to Metropolis and, as a result, had been on hand in the few days after Lionel Luthor's death to keep the company on track and find the papers that clearly stated that he was heir to it's running and upkeep. He hadn't been back to the mansion in Smallville since. There was nothing there for him. He kept tabs on everyone, though. Clark and Lois had become fairly well-known for an expose on one of his companies. They hadn't been able to connect anything to him but, it had been textually implied. Lana, of course, was doing well at an art gallery in Paris. Pete was Pre-Law at Yale. Senator Kent was making some headway with a bill she wanted passed. It wouldn't be passed in the end, though. Lex just didn't want it.

'That is what power can do.'

But, Chloe Sulllivan. As he walked to his bedroom, Lex realized that the spunky blonde was the most interesting of all this twisted game of players. Of them all, she alone had always known exactly what she wanted to do in life. She had gotten lost along the way and Lex had saved her.

'That was quite an interesting summer.'

The summer that Chloe and Gabe Sullivan had gone into hiding had been one of the most out-of-control periods of time in Lex's life. But, Chloe had always managed to remind him exactly what they were doing. With a smile on her face. For awhile, he had missed that smile. It had told him that he wasn't hopeless. Chloe made her decision.

'She went running back to Clark as soon as I had Lana. And now, he's chosen her cousin.'

He wanted to laugh at the irony but, instead, he felt a sense of shame for making a joke out of Chloe's pain.

'At least she knew what love felt like. Even if it isn't returned.'

Lex wasn't sure that he had ever truly loved a woman. That he could see the rest of his life with. Even his and Lana's life together had seemed very brief in his 'glimpse'. She had died and he had been left with nothing. Lex sat on the edge of the bed. He should be looking over his papers and strategizing over his company's next move in the business world. At the moment, however, he wanted nothing more than oblivion.

'It's been too long since you went out, Lex. You're turning into an old man.'

With that thought in the back of his mind, Lex rang his driver. He was going to go out. And damned if anyone or anything was going to stop him.

The club was the perfect place to get lost in; it was smokey, dim, loud, and packed full of Metropolis' clubbers and youth. Lex made his way to the scaffolding above the dance floor so that he could examine the crowd further. With a new drink in his hand, Lex identified and classified the people in the club and their potential. He saw the desperate women who would be going home alone even as they threw themselves at him. He saw the ravers who took partying seriously, as a way of life. He saw Metropolis' new elite of young socialites and their boyfriends.

'Been there, done that.'

Then , as the music slowed, he spotted her. A blonde in the crowd almost directly below him. Her hair reached down to her shoulders. Her red dress clung to every curve and showed miles of skin as she danced against her partner in black. He couldn't see the face of the beauty below but,

'I'm tired of brunettes.'

And blondes always had more fun. Right? The night was definitely looking up.

And on to the next chappie...the reunion!