Dated to August 25th
Nov. 2nd, 2009 08:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
capable_ofA desperate Lex goes to the one place he can think of for help: The Kents. Jonathen is less then thrilled to find a Luthor bleeding on his porch.
Later, Lex reveals to Clark that he knows something he shouldn't.
Jonathan Kent was enjoying his usual morning routine. He'd been up at the crack of dawn feeding the horses and cows and now he was enjoying his coffee with that morning's copy of The Daily Planet before continuing the daily chores. A farmer's work was never done. He was sitting back in his chair at the kitchen table as Martha was putting breakfast on the table and Clark was upstairs in the shower. It was a simple life but Jonathan wouldn't trade it for the world.
Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking on the door. Jonathan exchanged a quick look with Martha and after seeing her with a pan of scrambled eggs in her hand, he put his coffee and paper on the table and got up to answer the door. He opened up the outer door to peer through the screen as the frantic knocking came again. "Hold your hors..." Oh holy hell, there was a Luthor bleeding on his porch from a wound in his shoulder and who looked like he was going to collapse any minute.
"Jesus...MARTHA! CLARK!"
Lex winced at the loud shout right by his head. "I assure you, Mr. Kent, that yelling is not necessary. I'm not going to die on your porch. I just need to see Clark." He said in a raspy mockery of his usual aloof tone. His shoulder was killing him and while he'd heal from it quicker then normal, his mutation did nothing to block the pain and he was leaning more on the door frame to stay upright then he wanted to admit.
But worse than the pain was the fear coursing through his veins. Fear for Anatoly and what he was being put through by the men who had kidnapped him. Lex just didn't understand who would want anything to do with Anatoly here. Despite the pain of being shot, Lex had managed to see the plates of the van from his position on the ground. Once he'd managed to pull himself up and into the bullet hole ridden convertible, he'd gotten on his cellphone to one of his more trusted assistants. He had made it very clear that he wanted the plates traced and the owner of the dummy corporation that had no doubt rented or owned them. His assistant told him it would take a couple hours. Lex gave him one. After hanging up, he'd started the car and had meant to start the two hour drive to Metropolis, the no doubt destination of the van. Instead, he'd ended up outside the Kent farmhouse.
At Jonathan's shout, Martha had quickly come up behind him to see what was wrong. Her husband already had the door open and was ducking under Lex's good arm to support the protesting Luthor into the house. She directed him into the kitchen and pulled out a chair so he could sit Lex down before going to get the well used first aid kit under the sink. Going right into mothering mode, she waved Jonathan away so she could figure out how and why Lex was bleeding.
Only a few moments after Jonathan had called, Clark appeared downstairs. His hair was still almost soaking wet, since he'd super speeded from the shower and hadn't really taken the time to dry his hair. "Dad?" Then his eyes glued to Lex and the blood soaking his shirt. "Oh my...Lex what happened?" His first thought was fear that the Russian man had confirmed his suspicions and gone the way of Desiree and Helen, hurting Lex.
After his half hearted attempts at batting Martha away didn't work, Lex just sighed and let her work. He didn't have time for this but he never could say no to the woman. Plus a hovering Jonathan just kept him on edge. But when Clark came down, Lex finally looked hopeful. "Clark! I came here to see you." He shifted slightly so he was facing the young man while Martha could keep cleaning his shoulder. "Anatoly and I were leaving for Metropolis this morning, when some gunman drove up in a van. They shot me and took him." He tried very hard to keep his tone even but it had a frantic strain to it. "Please, I need your help to get him back."
Jonathan frowned. Gunmen in a van? Things like this hadn't happened in Smallville before the Luthors had come to town. And who the heck was this Anatoly? "This sounds like something the police should be handling. Why didn't you call them instead of coming here? What can Clark do to help?" He asked skeptically, clearly ready to refuse Lex his son's help, despite him bleeding in his kitchen.
"Jonathan!" Martha admonished as she began bandaging Lex's shoulder. "Lex, you should be at the hospital getting this shoulder looked at. And despite how gruffly my husband put it, he's right. You should call the police."
Lex just made a frustrated noise. "Hospitals and police waste time! A man's life is at stake. I need to get Metropolis now and Clark has proven to be adapt at detective work in a tight situation. Plus, I...trust him." There were other reasons but Lex wasn't about to mention that to Jonathan, since he technically wasn't supposed to know it. And humbling himself in front of Jonathan Kent was hard enough as it was. "Please Mr. Kent. I know you have little regard for me, but the man who was taken has done nothing but stand up to my father since he's been here. Certainly that is something you would appreciate." And if Mr. Kent didn't appreciate the humble Luthor, perhaps a begging one would do.
Clark fidgeted where he was standing. Here was Lex, putting everything out in the open for his dad, who Lex knew didn't like him. If Clark wasn't convinced Lex was in love before, he was now. He didn't think the usually secretive Lex would even do such a thing for him. "Dad, please, let me help him! I promise I'll be careful. We're just finding where they took Anatoly. Once we find him, we'll call the police and let them get him out." Or...something like that. And if Clark had to use his powers, he'd do it discretely.
Jonathan didn't like this one bit. Especially the look in Lex's eyes that made him look young, almost Clark's age. Despite his problems with the Luthors, he couldn't deny that look on anyone. "Fine. But take the truck. I'm surprised that convertible runs with all the holes in it. And be careful! I don't know how you plan on finding this Anatoly..." He looked at Lex one more time before he had to look away, unable to handle seeing pure emotion in the eyes of a Luthor, "But I hope you save him from your father, Lex."
Lex...could barely believe his luck and he actually gaped at Jonathan for a slit second before he just smiled with relief. "Thank you, Mr. Kent...thank you."
----
They'd been on the road to Metropolis for fifteen minutes when Lex's cell phone rang. He glanced over to where Clark was driving and met his eyes for a moment before answering it. "Lex Luthor." He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the voice of his assistant, making the hour deadline with 5 minutes to spare. He listened to the information the assistant had found and slowly his heart sank. "Keep digging and call me with anything you find that might help us find those vans." Then he hung up and just stared at the phone in his hand. He really should have known.
Clark's worried gaze kept darting between the road and his injured best friend. "Lex? What is it?"
His eyes had been closed as he took deep breaths to calm himself and after a few moments, Lex opened them to meet Clark's. "The van was rented by a dummy corporation owned by the crime boss Morgan Edge, who I've suspected has done some deals with my father." He had to bite back a curse as his original fear had been answered. His father had kidnapped Anatoly, no doubt for the simple crime of embarrassing him yesterday. "My people are still working on it, but I have a hunch that we're going to be heading for the docks. I know Edge owns a few warehouses here in Metropolis and my father won't want to sully one of his properties if he didn't have to." The bitterness was clear in his tone.
Clark could only nod and kept driving.
Twenty minutes later, after some intense thinking, Lex spoke in a soft voice, "Clark...I know about you."
It took everything Clark had to not jerk the wheel and send them off the side of the road. His voice was shaky as he asked, "Wh...what are you talking about Lex?" He couldn't possibly know...no one knew except his parents and Pete!
Lex swallowed before looking over at Clark. "I know about your speed and your strength. About other powers that you have that I don't know the specifics of." The Clark on the island had hinted at his secrets to Lex during the weekend he'd held him prisoner and really, it wasn't like Lex hadn't noticed before the island. The island had just...confirmed things. He may not be exactly right, but Lex had to take the chance for Anatoly's sake.
"You have to be crazy, Lex. I don't have any super powers. And even if I did, what were you going to do? Blackmail me? I'm already helping you so isn't that counter- productive?" Clark was scared and so he reacted before he really thought about what he was saying. The blackmail bit almost made him wince, as it sounded more like Jonathan then him, but he needed to know what Lex was getting at.
That earned a bitter laugh. "Just like a Luthor, right? To resort to blackmail even when it's not needed. And please, Clark, you're a horrible liar." Then Lex grew serious. "No, Clark, I don't tell you this to blackmail you into helping me. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to not use your powers to help Anatoly to hide them from me. He's..." Emotion and pain made his voice uncharacteristically crack, "The most important person in the world to me and I want you to be able to use all your resources to help him. To not falter for fear of me seeing you do something extraordinary. So if I already know, you don't have to hide them. Do you understand?"
Clark nodded solemnly, understanding the logic and feeling bad for assuming Lex would try and manipulate him like that. If anything, it was a relief that Lex finally knew. His father would have a fit, but Clark could care less. It was one less person he had to hide from. But there was one more thing he had to ask. "You really love him...don't you, Lex?" The small smile that showed even in Lex's eyes was enough for Clark, even before he spoke. Clark was resolved in that moment to do anything to get Lex back the man he loved.
"Yes, Clark. I really, really do."
Later, Lex reveals to Clark that he knows something he shouldn't.
Jonathan Kent was enjoying his usual morning routine. He'd been up at the crack of dawn feeding the horses and cows and now he was enjoying his coffee with that morning's copy of The Daily Planet before continuing the daily chores. A farmer's work was never done. He was sitting back in his chair at the kitchen table as Martha was putting breakfast on the table and Clark was upstairs in the shower. It was a simple life but Jonathan wouldn't trade it for the world.
Suddenly, there was a frantic knocking on the door. Jonathan exchanged a quick look with Martha and after seeing her with a pan of scrambled eggs in her hand, he put his coffee and paper on the table and got up to answer the door. He opened up the outer door to peer through the screen as the frantic knocking came again. "Hold your hors..." Oh holy hell, there was a Luthor bleeding on his porch from a wound in his shoulder and who looked like he was going to collapse any minute.
"Jesus...MARTHA! CLARK!"
Lex winced at the loud shout right by his head. "I assure you, Mr. Kent, that yelling is not necessary. I'm not going to die on your porch. I just need to see Clark." He said in a raspy mockery of his usual aloof tone. His shoulder was killing him and while he'd heal from it quicker then normal, his mutation did nothing to block the pain and he was leaning more on the door frame to stay upright then he wanted to admit.
But worse than the pain was the fear coursing through his veins. Fear for Anatoly and what he was being put through by the men who had kidnapped him. Lex just didn't understand who would want anything to do with Anatoly here. Despite the pain of being shot, Lex had managed to see the plates of the van from his position on the ground. Once he'd managed to pull himself up and into the bullet hole ridden convertible, he'd gotten on his cellphone to one of his more trusted assistants. He had made it very clear that he wanted the plates traced and the owner of the dummy corporation that had no doubt rented or owned them. His assistant told him it would take a couple hours. Lex gave him one. After hanging up, he'd started the car and had meant to start the two hour drive to Metropolis, the no doubt destination of the van. Instead, he'd ended up outside the Kent farmhouse.
At Jonathan's shout, Martha had quickly come up behind him to see what was wrong. Her husband already had the door open and was ducking under Lex's good arm to support the protesting Luthor into the house. She directed him into the kitchen and pulled out a chair so he could sit Lex down before going to get the well used first aid kit under the sink. Going right into mothering mode, she waved Jonathan away so she could figure out how and why Lex was bleeding.
Only a few moments after Jonathan had called, Clark appeared downstairs. His hair was still almost soaking wet, since he'd super speeded from the shower and hadn't really taken the time to dry his hair. "Dad?" Then his eyes glued to Lex and the blood soaking his shirt. "Oh my...Lex what happened?" His first thought was fear that the Russian man had confirmed his suspicions and gone the way of Desiree and Helen, hurting Lex.
After his half hearted attempts at batting Martha away didn't work, Lex just sighed and let her work. He didn't have time for this but he never could say no to the woman. Plus a hovering Jonathan just kept him on edge. But when Clark came down, Lex finally looked hopeful. "Clark! I came here to see you." He shifted slightly so he was facing the young man while Martha could keep cleaning his shoulder. "Anatoly and I were leaving for Metropolis this morning, when some gunman drove up in a van. They shot me and took him." He tried very hard to keep his tone even but it had a frantic strain to it. "Please, I need your help to get him back."
Jonathan frowned. Gunmen in a van? Things like this hadn't happened in Smallville before the Luthors had come to town. And who the heck was this Anatoly? "This sounds like something the police should be handling. Why didn't you call them instead of coming here? What can Clark do to help?" He asked skeptically, clearly ready to refuse Lex his son's help, despite him bleeding in his kitchen.
"Jonathan!" Martha admonished as she began bandaging Lex's shoulder. "Lex, you should be at the hospital getting this shoulder looked at. And despite how gruffly my husband put it, he's right. You should call the police."
Lex just made a frustrated noise. "Hospitals and police waste time! A man's life is at stake. I need to get Metropolis now and Clark has proven to be adapt at detective work in a tight situation. Plus, I...trust him." There were other reasons but Lex wasn't about to mention that to Jonathan, since he technically wasn't supposed to know it. And humbling himself in front of Jonathan Kent was hard enough as it was. "Please Mr. Kent. I know you have little regard for me, but the man who was taken has done nothing but stand up to my father since he's been here. Certainly that is something you would appreciate." And if Mr. Kent didn't appreciate the humble Luthor, perhaps a begging one would do.
Clark fidgeted where he was standing. Here was Lex, putting everything out in the open for his dad, who Lex knew didn't like him. If Clark wasn't convinced Lex was in love before, he was now. He didn't think the usually secretive Lex would even do such a thing for him. "Dad, please, let me help him! I promise I'll be careful. We're just finding where they took Anatoly. Once we find him, we'll call the police and let them get him out." Or...something like that. And if Clark had to use his powers, he'd do it discretely.
Jonathan didn't like this one bit. Especially the look in Lex's eyes that made him look young, almost Clark's age. Despite his problems with the Luthors, he couldn't deny that look on anyone. "Fine. But take the truck. I'm surprised that convertible runs with all the holes in it. And be careful! I don't know how you plan on finding this Anatoly..." He looked at Lex one more time before he had to look away, unable to handle seeing pure emotion in the eyes of a Luthor, "But I hope you save him from your father, Lex."
Lex...could barely believe his luck and he actually gaped at Jonathan for a slit second before he just smiled with relief. "Thank you, Mr. Kent...thank you."
----
They'd been on the road to Metropolis for fifteen minutes when Lex's cell phone rang. He glanced over to where Clark was driving and met his eyes for a moment before answering it. "Lex Luthor." He breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the voice of his assistant, making the hour deadline with 5 minutes to spare. He listened to the information the assistant had found and slowly his heart sank. "Keep digging and call me with anything you find that might help us find those vans." Then he hung up and just stared at the phone in his hand. He really should have known.
Clark's worried gaze kept darting between the road and his injured best friend. "Lex? What is it?"
His eyes had been closed as he took deep breaths to calm himself and after a few moments, Lex opened them to meet Clark's. "The van was rented by a dummy corporation owned by the crime boss Morgan Edge, who I've suspected has done some deals with my father." He had to bite back a curse as his original fear had been answered. His father had kidnapped Anatoly, no doubt for the simple crime of embarrassing him yesterday. "My people are still working on it, but I have a hunch that we're going to be heading for the docks. I know Edge owns a few warehouses here in Metropolis and my father won't want to sully one of his properties if he didn't have to." The bitterness was clear in his tone.
Clark could only nod and kept driving.
Twenty minutes later, after some intense thinking, Lex spoke in a soft voice, "Clark...I know about you."
It took everything Clark had to not jerk the wheel and send them off the side of the road. His voice was shaky as he asked, "Wh...what are you talking about Lex?" He couldn't possibly know...no one knew except his parents and Pete!
Lex swallowed before looking over at Clark. "I know about your speed and your strength. About other powers that you have that I don't know the specifics of." The Clark on the island had hinted at his secrets to Lex during the weekend he'd held him prisoner and really, it wasn't like Lex hadn't noticed before the island. The island had just...confirmed things. He may not be exactly right, but Lex had to take the chance for Anatoly's sake.
"You have to be crazy, Lex. I don't have any super powers. And even if I did, what were you going to do? Blackmail me? I'm already helping you so isn't that counter- productive?" Clark was scared and so he reacted before he really thought about what he was saying. The blackmail bit almost made him wince, as it sounded more like Jonathan then him, but he needed to know what Lex was getting at.
That earned a bitter laugh. "Just like a Luthor, right? To resort to blackmail even when it's not needed. And please, Clark, you're a horrible liar." Then Lex grew serious. "No, Clark, I don't tell you this to blackmail you into helping me. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to not use your powers to help Anatoly to hide them from me. He's..." Emotion and pain made his voice uncharacteristically crack, "The most important person in the world to me and I want you to be able to use all your resources to help him. To not falter for fear of me seeing you do something extraordinary. So if I already know, you don't have to hide them. Do you understand?"
Clark nodded solemnly, understanding the logic and feeling bad for assuming Lex would try and manipulate him like that. If anything, it was a relief that Lex finally knew. His father would have a fit, but Clark could care less. It was one less person he had to hide from. But there was one more thing he had to ask. "You really love him...don't you, Lex?" The small smile that showed even in Lex's eyes was enough for Clark, even before he spoke. Clark was resolved in that moment to do anything to get Lex back the man he loved.
"Yes, Clark. I really, really do."