Chapter 52 - Key

The ATV ride had cleared Lex's mind for a short period of time, but now that it was over, and since he'd had to start thinking about the Kawache people and the other corporate battles LuthorCorp was facing, he couldn't get himself to settle down again.

When Clark went to visit Joseph Willowbrook to talk about the caves, Lex went to visit Pamela. Some of his servants had moved out—replacing the Palmers had proven to be more difficult than he had feared—and she'd moved into the little cottage beside the mansion. It allowed her to have her own space, but also to be within quick and easy reach so that Lex could help her if she needed to and send medical care at any hour. Most days, she had just enough energy to get up and maintain the little garden outside of her house, and she spent most of the rest of her time reading books that Lex brought down to her.

She greeted him with her usual hug, then she invited him to sit down at her table. No matter how many times he offered to send down food from his kitchens for her, she insisted that he didn't have to do that, and that she preferred cooking for herself. "How are you holding up?" she asked him.

"I'm fine," he said. He'd already told her about his father remembering Julian, though he hadn't given her many details. There was no reason to make her worry any more than she already did.

"I could speak to him, if you think it would help."

"I don't think it would." Lex had mentioned that his father didn't believe him, about his mother killing Julian, but he doubted his father would listen any better to Pamela.

"You remember the promises you made to me?"

"Of course." He thought about those promises all the time—to continue going to therapy, to keep alert as his father plotted against him, and to try to forgive himself for leaving his father to die. Of course, he had succeeded in only two of the three up to this point.

"I'm worried the company might be in danger."

He frowned. "So soon?"

"I keep in touch with a few of your employees. There are whispers going around that Lionel is beginning to take control of the company again."

"He's trying to take back the company from under my nose?"

"Well . . . it's not really yours."

"Pamela—"

"You know I'd never take his side over yours, Alexander, but it's not. You've always been the interim CEO."

"I know." He tried to keep from grimacing. "But LexCorp is mine."

"For all intents and purposes, you've remerged the two companies."

"That's not true, from a legal standpoint."

"The way you've structured your employees, though—"

"He can't take LexCorp from me." Lex regretted the words as soon as they were out. He didn't sound like a confident businessman; he sounded like a petulant teenager.

"I know. Believe me, I know. And I have an idea."

"For securing the company?"

Pamela nodded. "Your father is in search of a personal assistant."

It took him a half second too long to figure out what she was talking about. "Pamela, no."

"It would give you an ally on the inside—"

"He would know you'd take my side. He'd never hire you."

"Don't be so sure. For all his talk against sentiment, he sometimes makes decisions for old time's sake. And if I'm not mistaken—" she winced— "he still finds me attractive."

Lex felt sick to his stomach. "You're not—you're not thinking—"

"No. Of course not. I evaded his advances for years after my daughter was born, I can do it again."

"Your health isn't up to it."

"It's a part time position, and it's not physically demanding."

"I won't let you do this, Pamela. It's not safe for you."

"It's perfectly safe for me. He won't hurt me. In all the years I worked for him, he never hurt me."

"Getting you pregnant and forcing you to give up your daughter for adoption? Making you watch while I was abused? Manipulating you into leaving me after my mother died? Having to keep your silence about Julian?"

"If you absolutely forbid it, Alexander, I won't apply. But, well . . . you brought me back to life. I'd like for it to have been . . . for a reason."

He was breathing in to tell her how ridiculous that was—that her being alive was enough reason, that she was worth any effort he put in, even if she never "accomplished" anything for the rest of her life—but right at that moment, Clark barged into the cottage.

Lex jumped up, startled. "Knock much?"

"Oh!" Clark's cheeks turned pink. "I'm so sorry, Pamela, it's just, they told me Lex was here, and I was really excited—"

"I'll be with you in a few minutes, Clark," Lex said.

Pamela smiled up at him. "You go. Have fun. Think about what we talked about, and we can discuss it later."

Lex nodded, reached down to gently squeeze Pamela's hand, and followed Clark out.

"I'm really sorry for interrupting, Lex," Clark said.

"It's okay. What did you want to tell me?"

He took a deep breath. "Well. It's about the caves."

Clark ran his fingers over the metal octagon in his pocket for the millionth time. "I'm not sure if I should do this," he said.

"Repeat again what Willowbrook said?" Lex said.

"He said that Naman would have a metal key shaped like an octagon, and that when he used it, the caves would reveal their secrets to him. Or something."

"And Naman would fall from the sky in a rain of fire, have the strength of ten men, and be able to make fires with his eyes?"

"Uh, yeah."

"So Naman is you."

"We don't know that."

Lex gave him a look. "Right. The legends were talking about the other alien who fell in a meteor shower and has super strength and heat vision."

"Lex—"

"And a spaceship with symbols that look like these."

Clark clenched his teeth. He didn't know how to respond to any of that, but he couldn't help but think that his dad would be telling him to be careful with the octagon.

Lex let out his breath and looked Clark right in the eyes. "Look. Clark. This is bigger than me, and it's not my decision to make. Under normal circumstances, I would never want to put any pressure on you. But . . . we're pressed for time. Ryan and Pamela, their time is running out. My father's starting to take back over the company, Pamela's going to try to be a spy by working as his personal assistant. And our scientists aren't getting anywhere."

"Yeah. No pressure," Clark muttered.

"And even if I take your blood sample . . . I don't know what to be looking for, Clark. This is a written record by someone from your planet. Maybe someone who knows something."

Clark shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "What do you think it all means?"

"The symbols?"

"No. The legends. He just said the caves would reveal themselves to me. You think maybe another section of the cave will open itself up? He said it was a key."

Lex shook his head. "I don't know. Like I said, this is your decision. If you don't want to do this—"

"No. I'm going to do this." Clark steeled himself and took the octagon out of his pocket. He slowly held it up to the impression, then pressed it inside. The fit was perfect.

A burst of light shot out of the wall and hit him square in the chest. He felt himself being lifted from the cave's dirt floor, and then strange, blinding images filled his mind, then he knew no more.

"Clark? Clark!"

Clark's eyes fluttered open. His head was pounding. He wasn't used to headaches—this might have been the worst one he'd ever had in his life.

"Oh, thank God." Lex was kneeling beside him, leaning over him, but he sat back as Clark began to pull himself to sit up. "You were out for almost a full minute. I didn't know what I was going to tell your parents."

"What happened?"

"There were all these beams of light coming out of the walls and lifting you up, and you went into some kind of trance, and then they dropped you to the ground and I haven't been able to wake you up."

Memories of what they'd come to do flooded into Clark's mind. "Well, did the key work?"

"I don't know, Clark, you tell me."

Clark pulled himself to his feet and looked around the room. For a moment, it looked exactly the same as it had before he'd put the octagon into the wall.

Then some of the symbols started looking more like words.