Lex Luthor (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
capable_of) wrote2009-11-02 08:19 pm
capable_of) wrote2009-11-02 08:19 pm
Dated to August 25th
In a dark warehouse, Lionel takes his revenge on Anatoly, with intended fatal results. Will Lex and Clark find them in time?
The first thing Anatoly became aware of during his slow return to consciousness was the bright light shining square on his face. The second thing was the realization that he was sitting in a chair, his hands handcuffed behind him. He groaned and shifted as he tried to get a sense of his surroundings despite a pounding headache and an ever growing sense of fear. He was alone, helpless and with no hope of Lex finding him - if he was even still alive.
The warehouse was dark, the only other light beside the one set on Anatoly coming in slits where boards covered the windows. Not that Anatoly could see it, but the back wall was full of boxes and the van used to abduct him. This is where two of the men sat, keeping an eye on the tied up man while the other three stood guard outside. There was a hushed conversation between the two, of which bits and pieces could be heard in the quiet.
"...who is this guy? Is he rich...?"
"...think the Luthor brat died?...not going to be a happy..."
"...fault. Hope you got your affairs in order..."
"...up! Luthor don't have to know..."
"...his kid was bumping uglies with this guy, Luthor might be grateful..."
"...damn faggot..."
The conversation hushed as they heard a car pull up outside. They both jumped up, guns at the ready as they made their way to the door to admit whoever it was.
Lionel was behind this. It was the only explanation that made sense, and what little he could hear of the whispered conversations only sealed his suspicion. If he didn't get out here... well, he knew the sort of thing Molokov would do if he'd had this opportunity, and from all he'd heard and witnessed personally, Lionel was capable of doing much worse.
Anatoly's suspicions were confirmed as moments later, Lionel Luthor came striding into the warehouse. He looked at the two interior guards with a harsh expression. He pulled a gun from his overcoat and shot them both, as one of the guards outside had informed him that there was the two gunman and one had shot Lex. He didn't much care which one, just that they were punished, since he'd given express orders that Lex not be harmed.
The loud crack of the gun shots reverberated through the warehouse and Anatoly froze, the blood draining from his face. He struggled fruitlessly with the handcuffs for a few moments before giving up and slumping against the chair. There was no way out of this and nothing to do but wait for whatever was going to happen next. Somehow, he doubted it would be anything so simple as a gun to the head.
Letting his men clean up the mess, Lionel casually replaced the gun in his inner coat pocket and with his hand clasped behind his back, he walked up behind where Anatoly sat bound to the chair. "Well, Mr. Sergievsky. We meet again. And without my son to interrupt this time." He stayed just out of the light, so he was just a voice in the dark.
"Mr. Luthor," Anatoly said, twisting his head around in an attempt to see the man himself. Finding nothing but shadows, he turned back around, his hands clenching into fists. "If I didn't know any better, I might think you were a member of the KGB."
It was foolish to rile him up when he already had the upper hand, Anatoly knew, but he was damned if he was going to just break down all at once. He wasn't going to give Lionel the satisfaction.
At Anatoly's small outburst, Lionel couldn't help a bubble of mocking laughter. "I believe I'll take that as a compliment. It was amazing what the KGB were able to accomplish in your country before its parent government fell. So much so that its leader became prime minister of Russia. It's a shame they were so villified." Lionel carefully walked around the outside of the circle of light, expensive dress shoes clicking on the concrete. "But then the Luthor name has gained its own reputation and I won't have challenges to its legacy."
With great difficulty, Anatoly managed to keep his mouth shut. This was hardly the time to start an argument about the KGB's merits or lack thereof, and even if it was, there was no way he could share his experiences without raising suspicions and questions he didn't want to answer. Let Lionel think what he wanted; if he'd lived in the Soviet Union, he'd have a very different viewpoint on things.
"You think I am a challenge?" Anatoly asked in disbelief. "Why?"
"Well, I suppose calling you a challenge is giving you too much credit." Lionel was standing right in front of him now, but still just out of the light. "A distraction. I told you during our game, my son is going to be a great man and I will not have him compromised. Not after all the work I have put into him." Finally, he took a step forward into the light. "I underestimated his attachment to you. And yours to him. I'm afraid I cannot allow this to continue. For Lex's sake, you understand." He couldn't pull off the concerned father bit and he didn't try, letting it be the mockery he'd intended it to be.
"You don't seem to understand that he's already a great man," Anatoly said fiercely, leaning forward as much as the handcuffs would allow. "Despite your lessons for him."
"My lessons are going to give him the world." Lionel said with a raised eyebrow. "What can a Russian chess player give him that is better then that?"
"Love. Someone who cares about him for who he is, not for the name he carries or the future he might bring." Anatoly faced Lionel quietly, knowing that this was only making things worse for himself. "Not that I expect you to understand that. I don't think you are even capable of doing so."
Lionel laughed, a cruel laugh. He walked around the chair and in one sudden movement, had a hand in Anatoly's hair, pulling him back and forcing his neck to arch harshly. "I will give you this. You're different then his usual. Smart enough to keep up with him, but lacking ambition that would compete with him. But you're a fool to think Lex would choose love over his destiny. That I would let him. Someday he is going to thank me for ridding him of you, a mere bump in his road."
Anatoly swallowed a gasp as his head was bent backward and he looked up at Lionel, seething with rage. "His destiny is what he makes of his life, not what you or I would have it."
He was absolutely furious and he held nothing back as he continued. "God, why do you people insist on playing with people like they're pawns? Is everything a game to you? No, don't answer that, of course it. You, Molokov, de Courcey... you're all alike in your desperate grasp for power and for what? A fleeting moment of triumph, who gives a damn how many people's lives are ruined because of it? Every word you say just proves to me that Lex is the better man by far for fighting you every step of his life."
If Lionel's laugh was cruel before, it was bordering on evil now. "A fleeting moment of triumph? If that was all this was, do you think I've have wasted so much time on the boy? No...I'm molding Lex into someone who is going to rule the world. He is more then capable of it, you would be blind not to see it. And once he stops fighting me, he'll see it too, and thank his dear father for everything I've done for him."
In the emotional back and forth, both men missed the sounds of a struggle outside.
Anatoly was forced to laugh incredulously at Lionel's words. It was all so insane. "Do you really think so little of him that you believe that a simple chess player like myself could so threaten your plans just by existing?"
The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed in the dark warehouse, as Lionel released Anatoly's head and hit him hard across the face. His hands clenched at his sides as he stood up, fighting the urge to hit the other man again. "Don't flatter yourself." Then, he began digging in his coat pockets, finally drawing up a syringe. "I think it's time we finish our business here." He uncapped it and tapped the liquid inside to release any air bubbles.
The sounds from the outside ceased, making the quiet that much louder.
Anatoly let out a started shout at the contact and it was more than a few minutes before the ringing in his head subsided enough for him to focus on what Lionel was doing. Once he noticed the syringe, he froze, eyes wide. Whatever was in there couldn't be anything good, that much was sure. For the first time since he'd woken up in the warehouse, he started to wonder if he was going to leave this place alive.
"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a heart attack, Mr. Sergievsky? Because that is exactly what you're going to have in about fifteen minutes." With a dramatic flair, he showed off the syringe as his hand once again sought Anatoly's hair and pulled back to expose his neck. "This drug is going to overload your heart. And then my men are going to dump your body outside Metropolis General. You will be labeled as a John Doe until Lex is able to find you. Then he will mourn...and forget you." The needle found the vein in Anatoly's neck with a sharp prick.
Whatever Lionel might think, he was wrong on at least one count. Lex wouldn't forget him. Lionel didn't know his son as well as he thought he did if killing him was his only solution. No reaction, no last words, no pleas. Anatoly was determined not to give the older Luthor the satisfaction.
Before he could even move the plunger a milimeter, Lionel was violently hoisted away from Anatoly and held up by the neck by a very angry Clark Kent who had appeared out of nowhere. Lex came running up behind Clark and quickly removed the syringe from Anatoly's neck, throwing it blindly into the dark of the warehouse.
On the way to Metropolis, Lex's assistant had called again. He'd found where Edge's properties were along Metropolis Harbor and that a LexCorp employee had seen Lionel's limo driving in that direction. Lex had quickly thanked his assistant, with the promise of a hearty raise, and then directed Clark where to drive the truck. They'd parked along the next row of warehouses over and then snuck around to get the jump on the men waiting outside. Lex had been able to take out one of them with a board of wood, while Clark's powers neatly rounded up the rest. Clark had been stuffing the bodies of the unconscious men into the van while Lex called the police when they'd heard Anatoly shout. One panicked, begging look from Lex was all it took before Clark was speeding around to find an entrance into the building, until he gave in and just broke the main lock, bursting in just in time.
Lex began frantically checking Anatoly over for injury, until he was practically sitting in the other man's lap as he examined the growing bruises on his face. "Tolya, are you alright?"
It happened so fast, it was almost like a dream. One moment, Anatoly was braced for his certain untimely demise and the next, he was looking up into the face of his beloved Lex. "I'm fine," he answered in a raspy voice. "I promise. I'm fine."
After making sure for himself that Anatoly was alright, Lex leaned down and kissed him thoroughly, for the moment ignoring the situation, especially the rasped cursing from behind him. When he lifted his head from the kiss, he said over his shoulder, "Clark? I need you to either check my father's pockets for a key or a subtle demonstration of your strength."
Clark didn't move his hand from Lionel's throat as he checked his pockets, finding the handcuff key in one of the inner breast pockets. He held it out behind him. "Here you go, Lex. What should I do with him?" He gave Lionel a little warning shake.
Lex got off Anatoly to grab the key and moved to kneel behind the chair so he could unlock the handcuffs. As each cuff unlatched, he took a moment to kiss each abused wrist. It did a lot to alleviate the need to kill his father right then and there, though the thought never fully left his mind. Though another one filtered in when the handcuffs were sitting open in his hand. He stood up and offered a hand to Anatoly to help him stand. "Put him in the chair, Clark. I think he needs a taste of his own medicine." As Clark passed him, Lex tossed him the cuffs, trusting the farmboy would know what to do with them.
Anatoly took Lex's hand and carefully stood, wrists painfully throbbing. He moved out of the way, more than willing to make way for Clark and Lionel. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and the enormity of the situation he'd been through was starting to settle in. He clung to Lex for support, feeling himself start to shake.
The moment Lex felt Anatoly start to shake, he wrapped his arms around the other and held him tightly, muttering soft Russian words of comfort into his ear. When Clark was finished securing his father, Lex gestured for him to come over and he whispered instructions into his ear. Clark nodded and shot off for a moment, returning a few long moments later with the syringe Lex had thrown away. With a kiss to Anatoly's cheek, Lex carefully extracted himself from his arms and moved towards his father, syringe in hand.
Lionel stared back at his son, head held high despite the bruises on his neck. "You're making a big mistake Lex. I only have your best interests in your fut..."
A sharp crack made Lionel stop mid sentence as Lex slapped him across the face. "Shut up Dad. For too long I let you get away with running my life. For too long I just accepted your manipulation as your mutated form of love. For too long I tried desperately to earn that love from you, so you would look at me like a son, rather then a despised offspring. But this time you have gone too far. I've found out what love truly is and I'm not about to give it up, Dad...not even for you and your grand plans for a future I don't even want." Lex put his hands on Lionel's shoulders and leaned right into his father's face, a menacing look on his face that was pure angry Luthor. "I could kill you for what you did to Anatoly. But instead, I'm just going to give you a taste of your own medicine."
Then, in a mirror action to the scene Lex and Clark had interrupted, Lex grabbed Lionel's hair, pulled back his head and released the plunger into his father's neck. Then he dropped the syringe on the ground, turned to gather Anatoly and walked away towards the door, ignoring Lionel's yells behind him.
Stunned, Anatoly could only watch in horror as Lex so effortlessly turned the tables on his father. For all that Lionel was a bastard, he didn't truly deserve to die. Better than he should live and see how he'd managed to wreck his grand design. But Lex had moved far too quickly for Anatoly to even protest, and there was now nothing to do but follow him out.
Once they were outside of the warehouse, Clark moved towards the truck to get it started, leaving Lex and Anatoly alone. Lex looked into Anatoly's eyes and said simply, "It's not what you think."
"What is it, then?" Anatoly met Lex's gaze, wanting to hear his reason before making any judgment.
"Unless my father has a reaction to the water of Metropolis Harbor, he's just going to get an intense scare." Lex said simply, a smirk playing on his lips. "Clark used his speed to dump whatever was in the syringe and replace it with water when I asked him to go find it in the dark." Then his teasing manner turned dark. "It's the least he deserves for even touching you."
Anatoly let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. He couldn't have blamed Lex if he had given into his desire, but he was relieved that he hadn't. It only went to prove what he'd believed all along, that Lex was a far greater man than his father. "I almost wish I could see his face when he realizes."
"Me too. But right now, I want to take you to my penthouse and show you the good time I had planned from the start." Lex gave him a chaste kiss, whispering softly, "I wanted to. Oh, did I want to. I love you and no one will hurt you ever again, I promise." The promise was made with a strong conviction, as if Lex was going to make it true through sheer force of will.
"But your shoulder," Anatoly protested. As much as he wanted to escape the place and all of its associated trauma, he still had to worry about Lex. "I saw you get shot, Lex. That needs to be looked at!"
Lex bit his lip. "Anatoly, remember when I told you about Smallville and what it did to it's inhabitants?" He pulled down the shoulder of his shirt and moved the bandage Martha Kent had applied, to show a wound that looked a week or two old, well on it's way to healing.
Anatoly had remembered, but the memory had fallen by the wayside in all of the chaos. He was surprised to see how quickly the injury was healing and let out an awkward laugh. "I didn't realize it was... that fast."
He staggered a little bit, feeling the last bit of reserved strength give out and reached out for Lex, gripping his shoulder tightly as he fought to stay upright. "Could we - I'm tired," he said, wearily. "I'm tired and I hurt. Could we just - I just to - be anywhere but here."
Quickly gathering Anatoly in his arms, Lex kissed his temple and led him towards where Clark and the truck were waiting. "Of course, my Tolya, anything you desire."
The first thing Anatoly became aware of during his slow return to consciousness was the bright light shining square on his face. The second thing was the realization that he was sitting in a chair, his hands handcuffed behind him. He groaned and shifted as he tried to get a sense of his surroundings despite a pounding headache and an ever growing sense of fear. He was alone, helpless and with no hope of Lex finding him - if he was even still alive.
The warehouse was dark, the only other light beside the one set on Anatoly coming in slits where boards covered the windows. Not that Anatoly could see it, but the back wall was full of boxes and the van used to abduct him. This is where two of the men sat, keeping an eye on the tied up man while the other three stood guard outside. There was a hushed conversation between the two, of which bits and pieces could be heard in the quiet.
"...who is this guy? Is he rich...?"
"...think the Luthor brat died?...not going to be a happy..."
"...fault. Hope you got your affairs in order..."
"...up! Luthor don't have to know..."
"...his kid was bumping uglies with this guy, Luthor might be grateful..."
"...damn faggot..."
The conversation hushed as they heard a car pull up outside. They both jumped up, guns at the ready as they made their way to the door to admit whoever it was.
Lionel was behind this. It was the only explanation that made sense, and what little he could hear of the whispered conversations only sealed his suspicion. If he didn't get out here... well, he knew the sort of thing Molokov would do if he'd had this opportunity, and from all he'd heard and witnessed personally, Lionel was capable of doing much worse.
Anatoly's suspicions were confirmed as moments later, Lionel Luthor came striding into the warehouse. He looked at the two interior guards with a harsh expression. He pulled a gun from his overcoat and shot them both, as one of the guards outside had informed him that there was the two gunman and one had shot Lex. He didn't much care which one, just that they were punished, since he'd given express orders that Lex not be harmed.
The loud crack of the gun shots reverberated through the warehouse and Anatoly froze, the blood draining from his face. He struggled fruitlessly with the handcuffs for a few moments before giving up and slumping against the chair. There was no way out of this and nothing to do but wait for whatever was going to happen next. Somehow, he doubted it would be anything so simple as a gun to the head.
Letting his men clean up the mess, Lionel casually replaced the gun in his inner coat pocket and with his hand clasped behind his back, he walked up behind where Anatoly sat bound to the chair. "Well, Mr. Sergievsky. We meet again. And without my son to interrupt this time." He stayed just out of the light, so he was just a voice in the dark.
"Mr. Luthor," Anatoly said, twisting his head around in an attempt to see the man himself. Finding nothing but shadows, he turned back around, his hands clenching into fists. "If I didn't know any better, I might think you were a member of the KGB."
It was foolish to rile him up when he already had the upper hand, Anatoly knew, but he was damned if he was going to just break down all at once. He wasn't going to give Lionel the satisfaction.
At Anatoly's small outburst, Lionel couldn't help a bubble of mocking laughter. "I believe I'll take that as a compliment. It was amazing what the KGB were able to accomplish in your country before its parent government fell. So much so that its leader became prime minister of Russia. It's a shame they were so villified." Lionel carefully walked around the outside of the circle of light, expensive dress shoes clicking on the concrete. "But then the Luthor name has gained its own reputation and I won't have challenges to its legacy."
With great difficulty, Anatoly managed to keep his mouth shut. This was hardly the time to start an argument about the KGB's merits or lack thereof, and even if it was, there was no way he could share his experiences without raising suspicions and questions he didn't want to answer. Let Lionel think what he wanted; if he'd lived in the Soviet Union, he'd have a very different viewpoint on things.
"You think I am a challenge?" Anatoly asked in disbelief. "Why?"
"Well, I suppose calling you a challenge is giving you too much credit." Lionel was standing right in front of him now, but still just out of the light. "A distraction. I told you during our game, my son is going to be a great man and I will not have him compromised. Not after all the work I have put into him." Finally, he took a step forward into the light. "I underestimated his attachment to you. And yours to him. I'm afraid I cannot allow this to continue. For Lex's sake, you understand." He couldn't pull off the concerned father bit and he didn't try, letting it be the mockery he'd intended it to be.
"You don't seem to understand that he's already a great man," Anatoly said fiercely, leaning forward as much as the handcuffs would allow. "Despite your lessons for him."
"My lessons are going to give him the world." Lionel said with a raised eyebrow. "What can a Russian chess player give him that is better then that?"
"Love. Someone who cares about him for who he is, not for the name he carries or the future he might bring." Anatoly faced Lionel quietly, knowing that this was only making things worse for himself. "Not that I expect you to understand that. I don't think you are even capable of doing so."
Lionel laughed, a cruel laugh. He walked around the chair and in one sudden movement, had a hand in Anatoly's hair, pulling him back and forcing his neck to arch harshly. "I will give you this. You're different then his usual. Smart enough to keep up with him, but lacking ambition that would compete with him. But you're a fool to think Lex would choose love over his destiny. That I would let him. Someday he is going to thank me for ridding him of you, a mere bump in his road."
Anatoly swallowed a gasp as his head was bent backward and he looked up at Lionel, seething with rage. "His destiny is what he makes of his life, not what you or I would have it."
He was absolutely furious and he held nothing back as he continued. "God, why do you people insist on playing with people like they're pawns? Is everything a game to you? No, don't answer that, of course it. You, Molokov, de Courcey... you're all alike in your desperate grasp for power and for what? A fleeting moment of triumph, who gives a damn how many people's lives are ruined because of it? Every word you say just proves to me that Lex is the better man by far for fighting you every step of his life."
If Lionel's laugh was cruel before, it was bordering on evil now. "A fleeting moment of triumph? If that was all this was, do you think I've have wasted so much time on the boy? No...I'm molding Lex into someone who is going to rule the world. He is more then capable of it, you would be blind not to see it. And once he stops fighting me, he'll see it too, and thank his dear father for everything I've done for him."
In the emotional back and forth, both men missed the sounds of a struggle outside.
Anatoly was forced to laugh incredulously at Lionel's words. It was all so insane. "Do you really think so little of him that you believe that a simple chess player like myself could so threaten your plans just by existing?"
The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed in the dark warehouse, as Lionel released Anatoly's head and hit him hard across the face. His hands clenched at his sides as he stood up, fighting the urge to hit the other man again. "Don't flatter yourself." Then, he began digging in his coat pockets, finally drawing up a syringe. "I think it's time we finish our business here." He uncapped it and tapped the liquid inside to release any air bubbles.
The sounds from the outside ceased, making the quiet that much louder.
Anatoly let out a started shout at the contact and it was more than a few minutes before the ringing in his head subsided enough for him to focus on what Lionel was doing. Once he noticed the syringe, he froze, eyes wide. Whatever was in there couldn't be anything good, that much was sure. For the first time since he'd woken up in the warehouse, he started to wonder if he was going to leave this place alive.
"Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a heart attack, Mr. Sergievsky? Because that is exactly what you're going to have in about fifteen minutes." With a dramatic flair, he showed off the syringe as his hand once again sought Anatoly's hair and pulled back to expose his neck. "This drug is going to overload your heart. And then my men are going to dump your body outside Metropolis General. You will be labeled as a John Doe until Lex is able to find you. Then he will mourn...and forget you." The needle found the vein in Anatoly's neck with a sharp prick.
Whatever Lionel might think, he was wrong on at least one count. Lex wouldn't forget him. Lionel didn't know his son as well as he thought he did if killing him was his only solution. No reaction, no last words, no pleas. Anatoly was determined not to give the older Luthor the satisfaction.
Before he could even move the plunger a milimeter, Lionel was violently hoisted away from Anatoly and held up by the neck by a very angry Clark Kent who had appeared out of nowhere. Lex came running up behind Clark and quickly removed the syringe from Anatoly's neck, throwing it blindly into the dark of the warehouse.
On the way to Metropolis, Lex's assistant had called again. He'd found where Edge's properties were along Metropolis Harbor and that a LexCorp employee had seen Lionel's limo driving in that direction. Lex had quickly thanked his assistant, with the promise of a hearty raise, and then directed Clark where to drive the truck. They'd parked along the next row of warehouses over and then snuck around to get the jump on the men waiting outside. Lex had been able to take out one of them with a board of wood, while Clark's powers neatly rounded up the rest. Clark had been stuffing the bodies of the unconscious men into the van while Lex called the police when they'd heard Anatoly shout. One panicked, begging look from Lex was all it took before Clark was speeding around to find an entrance into the building, until he gave in and just broke the main lock, bursting in just in time.
Lex began frantically checking Anatoly over for injury, until he was practically sitting in the other man's lap as he examined the growing bruises on his face. "Tolya, are you alright?"
It happened so fast, it was almost like a dream. One moment, Anatoly was braced for his certain untimely demise and the next, he was looking up into the face of his beloved Lex. "I'm fine," he answered in a raspy voice. "I promise. I'm fine."
After making sure for himself that Anatoly was alright, Lex leaned down and kissed him thoroughly, for the moment ignoring the situation, especially the rasped cursing from behind him. When he lifted his head from the kiss, he said over his shoulder, "Clark? I need you to either check my father's pockets for a key or a subtle demonstration of your strength."
Clark didn't move his hand from Lionel's throat as he checked his pockets, finding the handcuff key in one of the inner breast pockets. He held it out behind him. "Here you go, Lex. What should I do with him?" He gave Lionel a little warning shake.
Lex got off Anatoly to grab the key and moved to kneel behind the chair so he could unlock the handcuffs. As each cuff unlatched, he took a moment to kiss each abused wrist. It did a lot to alleviate the need to kill his father right then and there, though the thought never fully left his mind. Though another one filtered in when the handcuffs were sitting open in his hand. He stood up and offered a hand to Anatoly to help him stand. "Put him in the chair, Clark. I think he needs a taste of his own medicine." As Clark passed him, Lex tossed him the cuffs, trusting the farmboy would know what to do with them.
Anatoly took Lex's hand and carefully stood, wrists painfully throbbing. He moved out of the way, more than willing to make way for Clark and Lionel. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, and the enormity of the situation he'd been through was starting to settle in. He clung to Lex for support, feeling himself start to shake.
The moment Lex felt Anatoly start to shake, he wrapped his arms around the other and held him tightly, muttering soft Russian words of comfort into his ear. When Clark was finished securing his father, Lex gestured for him to come over and he whispered instructions into his ear. Clark nodded and shot off for a moment, returning a few long moments later with the syringe Lex had thrown away. With a kiss to Anatoly's cheek, Lex carefully extracted himself from his arms and moved towards his father, syringe in hand.
Lionel stared back at his son, head held high despite the bruises on his neck. "You're making a big mistake Lex. I only have your best interests in your fut..."
A sharp crack made Lionel stop mid sentence as Lex slapped him across the face. "Shut up Dad. For too long I let you get away with running my life. For too long I just accepted your manipulation as your mutated form of love. For too long I tried desperately to earn that love from you, so you would look at me like a son, rather then a despised offspring. But this time you have gone too far. I've found out what love truly is and I'm not about to give it up, Dad...not even for you and your grand plans for a future I don't even want." Lex put his hands on Lionel's shoulders and leaned right into his father's face, a menacing look on his face that was pure angry Luthor. "I could kill you for what you did to Anatoly. But instead, I'm just going to give you a taste of your own medicine."
Then, in a mirror action to the scene Lex and Clark had interrupted, Lex grabbed Lionel's hair, pulled back his head and released the plunger into his father's neck. Then he dropped the syringe on the ground, turned to gather Anatoly and walked away towards the door, ignoring Lionel's yells behind him.
Stunned, Anatoly could only watch in horror as Lex so effortlessly turned the tables on his father. For all that Lionel was a bastard, he didn't truly deserve to die. Better than he should live and see how he'd managed to wreck his grand design. But Lex had moved far too quickly for Anatoly to even protest, and there was now nothing to do but follow him out.
Once they were outside of the warehouse, Clark moved towards the truck to get it started, leaving Lex and Anatoly alone. Lex looked into Anatoly's eyes and said simply, "It's not what you think."
"What is it, then?" Anatoly met Lex's gaze, wanting to hear his reason before making any judgment.
"Unless my father has a reaction to the water of Metropolis Harbor, he's just going to get an intense scare." Lex said simply, a smirk playing on his lips. "Clark used his speed to dump whatever was in the syringe and replace it with water when I asked him to go find it in the dark." Then his teasing manner turned dark. "It's the least he deserves for even touching you."
Anatoly let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. He couldn't have blamed Lex if he had given into his desire, but he was relieved that he hadn't. It only went to prove what he'd believed all along, that Lex was a far greater man than his father. "I almost wish I could see his face when he realizes."
"Me too. But right now, I want to take you to my penthouse and show you the good time I had planned from the start." Lex gave him a chaste kiss, whispering softly, "I wanted to. Oh, did I want to. I love you and no one will hurt you ever again, I promise." The promise was made with a strong conviction, as if Lex was going to make it true through sheer force of will.
"But your shoulder," Anatoly protested. As much as he wanted to escape the place and all of its associated trauma, he still had to worry about Lex. "I saw you get shot, Lex. That needs to be looked at!"
Lex bit his lip. "Anatoly, remember when I told you about Smallville and what it did to it's inhabitants?" He pulled down the shoulder of his shirt and moved the bandage Martha Kent had applied, to show a wound that looked a week or two old, well on it's way to healing.
Anatoly had remembered, but the memory had fallen by the wayside in all of the chaos. He was surprised to see how quickly the injury was healing and let out an awkward laugh. "I didn't realize it was... that fast."
He staggered a little bit, feeling the last bit of reserved strength give out and reached out for Lex, gripping his shoulder tightly as he fought to stay upright. "Could we - I'm tired," he said, wearily. "I'm tired and I hurt. Could we just - I just to - be anywhere but here."
Quickly gathering Anatoly in his arms, Lex kissed his temple and led him towards where Clark and the truck were waiting. "Of course, my Tolya, anything you desire."