Chapter 21
Clark arrived at the Smallville Medical Center with his truck, stopping next to a worried Martha. Lionel was being brought by an ambulance. "Mom, what happened?"
"They just called and said there was some kind of explosion," she said. She and Clark then approached the stretcher that Lionel was being carried on. "Lionel, it's Martha and Clark. We're here."
"Lex," Lionel said in an almost inaudible voice due to the oxygen mask. His body and face were covered in bruises and blood.
"I left Lex a message and said it was an emergency," Martha told him.
Lionel took the oxygen mask off to speak. "He's still down there." He had followed Lex to find out about one of his new underground projects, but they were met by a woman there, who blew up the place, trapping Lex there and leaving Lionel in his current state.
"Folks, he has to get into the E.R," one of the EMTs that were leading Lionel's stretcher into the hospital warned.
"Clark. Clark," Lionel called.
Clark ran to his side. "Yeah?"
"You have to help him. Lex is being held hostage." The older man put the oxygen mask back on as the need for air became too much. They entered the hospital.
"Do the police know what happened to him?" Clark asked.
"Yes, but there's no time," Lionel told him, holding Clark's arm tightly.
"We need to move," the EMT said.
"One second." They stopped moving. "Where is Lex?"
"They'll never find him, even if they get through the debris. It's a maze of tunnels. You've got to find him, Clark. He's put something terrible into motion down there. Lex is the only one who can stop it."
"Let's go. Let's go," The ETMs started to move the stretcher again. Martha went with them.
Clark was breathing heavily. What was Lex up to now?
-º-
Clark met Chloe on the explosion site. "Chloe, any news on Lex?"
"No, and the police captain just nixed the rescue efforts until they can debomb the area."
"That could take forever. Lionel said these tunnels are endless."
"Which means Lex and our G.I. Jane will be long gone before they get through all that debris."
Clark grew worried. "So Lionel was right. Lex could die if I don't go down there."
"Well, don't look to me for encouragement. After what he did to my mom, I don't mind the idea of him cohabitating with the rats for all of eternity."
"Trust me, Chloe. Lately I've had moments where I thought the world would be a better place without him, but..."
"You don't get to choose who you're gonna save. Not if you're Clark Kent," Chloe said, defeated.
"Besides, whatever's in those tunnels may be the first step in taking Lex down."
"Then I suggest you beat the bomb squad to the entrance and human-wrecking-ball your way in before anyone can see you," Chloe pointed with her head to the team working at the entrance of the tunnel.
-º-
Lex was being held by Jodi Keenan, a former Green Beret, who was looking for the whereabouts of her husband Wes Keenan, a Green Beret who was declared dead after a helicopter crash. Jodi, however, believed her husband was taken by LuthorCorp for some of their experiments. Held at gunpoint, Lex ended up telling her that his company tried to experiment on Wes and save his life after he was shot by a M60 firearm, but they had failed and Wes was indeed dead.
As Jodi became unnerved with the information, Lex took the opportunity to try to take the gun out of her hand, but their fight for it made the gun go off. The bullet hit Jodi's stomach. Lex then pointed the gun at her, proposing her to deactivate the bombs she had installed around the tunnels. She refused it and instead set off a smaller explosive in her hand.
Clark had arrived just in time, but as he started to run toward them, rocks and meteor rocks flew in his direction due to the explosion, sending him flying against the wall down the corridor.
After being unconscious for a few minutes, a dizzy Clark managed to get up and walk toward Lex with much difficulty due to the kryptonite surrounding the place. He spotted Lex under some debris. "Lex. Lex," Clark called.
Clark freed Lex off the debris over him as the bald man got up. "Clark... What are you doing here?" Lex asked, still painting and coughing. He still had a black eye on his face, courtesy of his encounter with Stilleto.
"Your dad sent me," Clark averted his eyes, knowing the questions coming his way.
"He's alive?" Clark nodded. "And you got through when nobody else could."
"No one else is trying, Lex. Police called off the rescue team when they found this place was rigged with explosives."
Lex went to check on the timer of one of the bombs installed there. "The entire tunnel system's scheduled to detonate in 14 minutes."
"Is there a way to deactivate it?"
"If you're trained in plastic explosives, be my guest. Come on," as Lex started to walk away, he saw Clark's left hand bleeding. "Clark."
Clark made a sound of pain as he realized there was a huge chunk of shrapnel sticking out of his left arm.
Lex walked back toward Clark to take the object out of his arm. "You're the last person I ever expected to be pulling shrapnel out of." Lex pulls the piece out of Clark's shoulder.
"Ugh!" Clark groaned as Lex pulled the piece out of his arm.
"I don't know why I still believed that you're more than human."
"Nothing's ever good enough for you, Lex," Clark said bitterly as he took his jacket off.
Lex angered. "The truth would have been. You may be flesh and blood, but you've been hiding secrets from me since we met. You never trusted me." He found a bandage and tied it around Clark's arm.
"Ugh!" Clark groaned again as Lex wrapped it tightly. He then glared at the other man. "Would it have mattered? What are you really doing down here, anyway, Lex? Trying to find new ways to exploit the people that have different abilities than you?" He then started to walk away.
"There's no gray area with you, is there? It's either all good or all evil. Did you even try to see my humanity before you decided I had none?"
Clark stopped and turned around. "I did, Lex. And look where we are."
Lex and Clark walked to the next corridor, looking for an exit. Lex found a hole in the wall behind some debris, passing through this. Clark, completely weakened by the kryptonite surrounding it, followed Lex, needing his former friend's help to pass through it, too. They kept walking looking for the exit.
-º-
"Chloe?" Lois answered her cell phone.
"Lois, finally! I have been trying to call you for the last five minutes," Chloe spoke in a louder voice than the necessary.
"Sorry, Chlo, I've been swamped with work all day."
"Did you know what happened to Lex?"
"I heard. I suppose Clark is over there rescuing Princess Lexie?"
"He is."
Lois sighed. "It isn't possible to love that man without him being who he is, is it?"
"Uh-huh," Chloe replied. "Um… Lois, uh, I need your help."
"Na-ah, forget about it, cuz. I won't move a finger to help Lex. Kent's puppy dog eyes may have convinced you, but there's no way it'll convince me. In fact, I'm becoming quite im –"
"It's not Lex we have to worry about."
"What?"
"Clark's in danger."
In a matter of second, Lois was at Chloe's side at explosion site. "Where's he?"
Chloe jerked around, a little taken by surprise. "God, you're becoming too much like him."
Lois's patience was growing thin. "Where is he, Chloe?"
"He's in there, probably with Lex."
Lois motioned to walk in the tunnel, but Chloe positioned herself in front of her. "Don't. There's kryptonite in there," Chloe told her.
Lois breathed hard, worried. "I have to do something."
Chloe nodded. "Can you see them with your x-ray vision?"
Lois looked down and activated her x-ray vision. She then shook her head. "Lead lined."
"Of course…"
"Let me try something else." Lois tilted her head slightly and started using her super hearing. She furrowed her brows. "I hear Clark's panting breath. Chloe, he's severely weak down there."
"One more reason for you not to go into those tunnels."
"I also heard a timer in there. We don't have much time left."
"Good thing you're fast. There's a person that might help us."
-º-
Clark and Lex reached a dead end as they encountered a locked cell. Clark tried to break the locker, but due to the kryptonite around, he hadn't enough strength to do it. "Lex, these ceilings aren't gonna hold out much longer," Clark said.
Lex, who was about to turn the corner, turned around and looked at him. "We have to go back."
Clark leaned again the wall and sat on the ground, crying in pain. "You know we don't have time for that. Something tells me no one else knows about these tunnels."
"By no one, you mean Lana. I'm sorry, but I don't bore her with the daily minutiae of my work."
"You mean you don't trust her?"
"I know that's what you've always wanted to believe. But Lana's the first person in my life I actually do trust."
"Are you sure about that? Have you actually told her about what you did to her best friend's mother? Or what you did to Chloe herself?"
Lex gulped. "Why do you even care? I thought you were happy with your new girlfriend, or isn't she enough to hold your attention and you have to worry about your ex girlfriend and her husband?"
"Believe it or not, I still care for Lana as a friend. I saw her last week, I saw the unhappiness in her eyes."
"Am I supposed to feel satisfied by that? Do you really think I like to feel like I'm not enough to make the love of my life happy? Not being sure of what to do for her is the hardest thing I've ever had to endure. You can believe that or not. I stopped expecting you to act like a friend a long time ago." Lex passed through Clark and stood toward the cell door.
"Were we ever really friends, Lex?"
"I don't know. I have nothing to compare it to. You're the only real friend I've ever had, Clark. And somewhere along the way, you saw me as your nemesis, turned your back on me."
Suddenly, the ceiling above Clark collapsed, sending a huge pile of debris raining down on him. Clark managed to protect himself, but his body got trapped under a huge metal beam. He looked at Lex as he tried to lift it off him. "Lex, get this off of me. Ugh!"
Lex looked around, realizing the impact had destroyed the cell door blocking the way. Lex looked at his watch, pensive.
"Don't leave me," Clark begged.
Without a word, Lex turned around and ran down the tunnel and turned the corner.
"Lex! Lex! Lex!" Clark kept calling as the destruction surrounded the place.
-º-
Lana was at the study of the Luthor mansion working looking into Lex's briefcase that that was left behind in the explosion. She was looking for her husband's hidden projects, evidences that could be used against him. Back at the day she was attacked and taken to the hospital, Lana found out she was never pregnant. Lex had hired Dr. Langston to put synthetic hormones in her bloodstream, faking all the symptoms of a pregnancy. She was filled with anger and resentment.
"Lana?" Chloe called as she entered the study room of the Luthor mansion, followed by Lois.
Lana closed the laptop where she was looking through some files. "Chloe." She then stared with eyes wide-open at the other guest. "Lois?"
"Hey," Lois greeted, shyly.
Chloe cleared her throat, feeling the awkwardness around the room. "Why aren't you with search and rescue team?"
"I thought I'd be more useful here," Lana said, completely serene. "Any news?"
"No, that's the problem. Because I'm not a Luthor, no one will talk to me. What have they told you?"
"That they'll tell me when they know something."
Lois intervened. "Lana, do you have anything here on those tunnels that might help us?"
Lana raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you so interested in this? As far as I know, you can't stand Lex."
"Clark's down there."
Shock took over Lana's expression. She rose up from the chair and rounded the desk to stand next to Lois.
"He went there to help Lex," Lois said.
"Now even the bomb squad can't find a way in," Chloe added.
"Lana, if you have anything that might help us. Please," Lois begged, her eyes conveying all the desperateness she was feeling.
Lana's heart was beating fast, concerning growing over time. "I think I know another way in."
Lois breathed a sigh of relief, while Chloe frowned. Lana went to sit back on the chair and logged back into the laptop, typing Lex's password at the prompt.
"Exactly when did you learn how to pole-vault over Lex's firewall?" Chloe asked.
"I figured that if Lex was gonna look over my shoulder, it was time for me to start looking over his."
Lois and Chloe exchanged looks. Into the laptop, Lana opened a file revealing a schematic of the tunnels. "Are those the blueprints for the tunnels?" Chloe asked. She and Lois looked surprised as Lana's face was still. "You were sitting on the holy grail all morning, and you didn't tell anyone?"
"I thought you said there wasn't much time," Lana said, coldly.
Lois cleared her throat. "We don't." She took Chloe's arm. "Let's go, Chlo."
"Wait. We can go with my car," Lana said.
"Uh, there's no need…"
"Yeah…"
"Let's go. It's ready to leave." Lana started walking toward the exit.
Chloe gave Lois an apologetic look and signaled for them to follow Lana. Lois sighed, she just hoped they could get in there in time.
-º-
Lex returned to help Clark with a huge pipe, freeing him of the metal beam. With Clark leaning on Lex for support, they walked through the tunnel until they found a hatch above them. They started to climb the long ladder frantically. Lex lost his footing on the way, but with Clark's help, he managed to climb it back.
With much difficulty, and only with them lifting it up together, they finally took the grate out of the way and opened the exit. As the timer zeroed, a massive explosion started to surrender the tunnels, coming their way.
Clark and Lex climbed out just in time as the explosion went up, spilling out into the air. Clark rolled onto his back and looked up, taking in the sunlight, recovering his breath and body.
Lana's car, alongside the police's car, had just arrived at the site. The three girls got out of the car. They spotted Clark getting up.
Clark smiled as he looked in their direction. Lois started running in his direction. Lana motioned to run to him, too, but stopped as she realized it wasn't her place to do it anymore.
Lois reached Clark and wrapped her arms around his waist in tight hug, smiling in relief. Clark hugged her back and closed his eyes, relieved. There was a moment in those tunnels he really thought he wouldn't see her again.
Lana spotted Lex and reluctantly walked to him and hugged him, averting her eyes from Clark and Lois embracing. She tried to hide her disgust and anger toward the man who was now her husband, but all she could think of was how his lies and schemes stopped what she could have. The couple hugging behind her only increased the regret feeling.
-º-
"You two didn't come in for dinner. Thought you might be hungry," Martha said as she brought food and juice for Clark and Lois. They were in the loft of the barn looking over a table of papers, charts, and graphics.
"Oh, thanks, Mrs. K," Lois said. She took a bite of her sandwich and sliced off a small piece and fed Clark.
"Any idea what Lex and Lionel were doing in those tunnels?" Martha asked.
"It just doesn't add up. I mean, we have budgets, funding, plans, construction. It's almost as if Lex was..." Clark said.
Martha nodded. "Building a water-purification system."
"Maybe this is the one time Lex was actually telling the truth," he said as he walked to the other side of the loft.
Lois, who was devouring the sandwich, frowned.
"Clark... What really happened down there?" His mother asked.
"When Lex pulled me out of that rubble, I saw a glimpse of something I hadn't seen in years. My friend," Clark said, puzzled by his own words.
"I know you two went through a lot. But so much has happened. Sometimes, as hard as it is, you have to let go," Martha told him.
Clark turned around to look at her and moved closer. "But you didn't. After everything that Lionel's done, you stood by him today."
"That doesn't mean I trust him. I wish I could. And even though I honestly believe he's made an effort, no one can completely change who they are."
"At least you gave him that chance. Mom, what if part of who Lex is... Is because of me? What if I gave up on him too soon?"
"That's bullshit," Lois spoke, anger in her voice.
Both Clark and Martha stared shocked at her. "Lois!" Martha hissed.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. K, but that's the truth." She stepped closer and looked at Clark. "You spend half of your life saving that man from his own doings and you wonder if you're the one responsible for it? Newsflash, Smallville, Lex makes his own decisions!"
Clark breathed hard. "Lois…"
"I didn't get to know you two as friends, I can't even picture you two as friends, but I know what a real friend is. Respectful to one's privacy, understanding, selfless. Lex is none of those. Lex is manipulating, power-aholic, a-hole. He subjected your best friend, your best friend's mother, my family, to his experiments. Lana, his own wife of all people, showed signs of wanting him dead. And you know what? He's not telling you the truth about what's happening in those tunnels. I don't know what it is, but he is planning something down there."
"So here's the thing, you can try to forget and pretend Lex is a poor thing walking down the evil's road because of others, but he isn't. He's smart enough to put the world at his feet and he knows it. I love you, I love how compassionate you are, but don't expect me to support you on this. You wanna befriend with the devil? You're on your own."
Clark looked taken aback by her speech.
Lois sighed and looked at Martha. "I have to go. Thanks for the lovely lunch." She then started to walk away without sparing him even a glance.
Martha nodded, bewildered.
Clark went after her and grabbed her arm. "Lois, wait."
Lois turned around to face him. "Let me go, Clark. I'm not in the mood of hearing you defending Lex."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just wish things could be different, that I could perhaps have changed some of this situation we are now," Clark said.
"You can't. And I'm afraid someday, while you try to save Lex of one of the holes he dug, he'll trap you in there and bury your body mercilessly," she confessed, teary-eyed.
Clark hugged her. "I'm sorry."
Martha approached them. "Lois is right, Clark. I know you'll never give up on anyone, because your greatest strength might also be your greatest weakness ... Your hope."
Clark looked pensive. Was Lex beyond salvation?
-º-
Beyond the underground tunnel, Lex and the leader of his Project Ares were at a hidden room looking at their latest and most powerful prototype yet, none other than Wes Keenan. "Thanks to your wife, I almost died for you. Let's hope there's nothing you can't do for me," Lex said, triumphantly.