Title: No One Noticed the Cat
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
help_haiti fic for tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this.
3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cheerful_earl and herohunter for the betas. :D
“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Four
“Mercy!” Lex bellowed, walking through the now familiar hallways. For the first time since he could remember, his head felt clear, his body felt like his own, and he knew exactly who he was and who lived with him.
That did not include children, Clark, or any variety of animal.
“Mercy!” he yelled again. When the woman ran into the hallway with her gun pulled, he stopped and looked at her hard. “Tell me what day it is, what my job is, and... Superman. What’s Superman up to?”
“It’s... Thursday. 3:00am. You’re the CEO of LexCorp and Superman... He’s Superman, sir. I’m not sure what you want to know,” she answered promptly. After a quick glance around the hallway she put her gun away.
“Is he my friend or enemy?” Lex asked. “Or...?”
“Or? You are enemies, as far as I know, boss.” Mercy stepped closer to him. “I can call a doctor, if you’d like. Did he knock you in the head again?”
“No. I... Trust that once again, I do know what I’m talking about.” Lex let out a huge sigh. “And once again, I’m going to somehow save the world by myself.”
“Well. It is Thursday.” Mercy shrugged and waited for Lex to give her the full story.
***
This building was not his own. But for however many months, Lex had lived here as though it were his home. His middle class, well-worn (but occasionally spacious) home, where he shared walls with the common people of Metropolis.
And he shared a bed with his nemesis.
When he reached the door, he knew Mercy was lurking about, his ever-present guard and confidant. He rapped on the door soundly. He knew the doorbell didn’t reach deep into the apartment.
“Coming!” Clark voice came muffled from within.
Lex waited impatiently, looking at his manicured hands, and remembering, briefly, cracked cuticles from washing dishes and cleaning the apartment. He remembered a little boy answering the door, with a head of black hair and clear gray eyes...
“Here!” Clark said cheerfully, opening the door. He straightened his back sharply upon seeing Lex’s face. “Oh. Hello, Luthor. I... uh...”
“Stop stammering, Kent, I have something serious to discuss with you,” Lex said tersely. It stung to hear Clark’s voice so cold, so unwelcoming. He didn’t love him now. But Lex had guessed as much, hadn’t he? “Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped.
Clark’s expression softened and he relaxed his shoulders and removed his glasses. “Are you okay, Luthor? I... I never expected you to come for a house call. I can’t think of why you’d want to come here, but... You could come inside?”
“I’m fine,” Lex assured him. He stepped into the humble apartment. “Have you felt any sense of disorientation lately? Of things not being as they should?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” Clark replied.
He followed Lex and his eyes raked over the man without a sense of subtly. Lex looked back at him and met Clark’s eyes. They looked at one another for a long time.
“Who was it?” a female voice asked from the other room.
Lex felt his insides grow cold. “Clark?”
A moment later, Lois Lane walked in, wiping her hands. “I burned dinner, Smallville. You’ll have to go for takeout again.”
“I thought you were going to take cooking classes,” Clark said with clear disappointment.
“I did.” Lois shrugged, then said blithely, “I can’t make a happy home. What’s baldshine doing here?”
“Don’t call him that,” Clark chided.
“No really, why’s this guy in my house?” she demanded.
“Apartment,” Lex corrected, eyeing her with as much venom as he could manage.
“Whatever. Get him outta here,” Lois ordered.
“He said he had something important to discuss with us,” Clark protested.
“With you,” Lex corrected. He felt a lot more ruffled than he should by Lois’ presence here. It felt violating to have her in his place.
“I’m the star reporter at The Daily Planet, hello?” Lois turned to Lex and put her hands on her hips. “If you want to give an interview, it should be with me.”
“I’m not giving anyone an interview. This is a little more important than...” Lex trailed off as he saw a sleek ragdoll cat padding into the living room. “Mau?”
Clark and Lois looked at one another in disbelief.
“Did you just meow?” Lois asked. She turned to Clark and whispered bluntly, “He’s cracked. Well, not like he was all that sane to begin with, but...”
Lex rolled his eyes. “I’m not meowing, you shrew. I’m referring to the cat.”
“The cat’s name is Miss Kitty,” she informed him.
“And you think Mau is a stupid cat name?” Lex asked, leaning down to touch the cat. She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. “This isn’t a cat.”
“Luthor,” Clark said gently, in a tone Lex remember too well. A tone that spoke to Lex’s fragility, to his vulnerability. “Let me take you to the hospital. Did you take a hit to the head-?”
“Why is everyone suggesting that I’m concussed?” Lex stroked the side of Mau’s head. “Nothing has hit my shiny head.”
“Or someone’s drugged you,” Clark suggested. “Or there’s some form of Kryptonite, or someone with a spell. It could be anything, but you aren’t acting right.”
“Aren’t I?” Lex stood up. “How do you know that you are acting right? How do you know that this is where you are supposed to be, who you are supposed to be, and what you are supposed to be doing? Ask yourself, Clark, what you are doing here with Lane, and why are you playing house when the universe is in danger?”
“What do you expect me to do?” Clark asked nervously.
“I expect you to put on those smashing tights of yours, head to the Watchtower, and sort this out before every living thing on the planet is snuffed out on the whim of a deranged god or something like it!”
“You’re a lunatic!” Lois exploded. “And I don’t care how goddamn rich this ugly bastard is, I’m calling the police if he doesn’t leave right now.”
Clark held his hands up. “That isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is. Get. Him. Out,” Lois ordered, glaring at Clark.
“Don’t worry about it, Clark.” Lex turned. Away from his living room. Away from his cat. Away from his life with Clark. “I’m leaving. I can do this on my own.”
***
When Lex had left, Clark scratched the back of his head. “I... uh...” He stepped over to the sofa and sat down, then put his head in his hands. “Lois, I feel weird. This isn’t right.”
“Don’t let Luthor freak you out. Whatever he’s talking about, he probably caused it,” Lois reasoned, sitting beside Clark and rubbing his back. “How many times has he been involved when something utterly insane was going on?”
“Right now, I feel utterly insane. Like... I don’t know. I can’t describe it.” Clark looked up at her worriedly. “When was the last time he called me Clark?”
“Hell if I know. Probably back during your bromance days in Smallville.”
“Probably.” Clark stood and walked toward the kitchen, which was just filled with smoke. “I’m not letting you cook anymore.”
“Fine with me. You’re better suited to being a housewife than I am.”
“Come on.”
“And I think you’d look pretty good in the heels and pearls.”
Clark groaned and turned on the water at the sink. After splashing some water on his face, Clark frowned and looked at Lois again. “He knows that I’m Superman.”
“Not necessarily-”
“No! He knows. He told me to put on my suit and go to the Watchtower. He knows, and he expected me to know.” Clark’s eyes were round with alarm.
Lois leaned on the counter and fanned the air as she looked through the many takeout menus on the refrigerator. “Okay, there must be something seriously wrong with Luthor, because I can’t imagine him giving that information away to you if he had it. He’d want to keep that close to his chest until he could use it against you.”
“I don’t know...”
“Stop worrying about this and let’s go out to eat. I have to go meet a source later.” Lois shrugged and picked up Miss Kitty as the cat meowed for attention.
Clark raked his hand through his hair as his worry about Lex melted away. “Are you thinking formal or casual?”
***
The study in the penthouse was three times the size of the pathetic little office (sometimes nursery) that Lex had back at Clark’s apartment. And yet Lex found himself curled up in the corner of the large window seat, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and cashmere track pants and socks. It had been a while since he’d been able to look down at his city like this. Well...
In his mind it had been a while. In reality, no time had really passed at all.
Curling his shirtsleeves around his fingers, it felt strange to be sitting here alone, slightly chilly, and not have Clark come up behind him and wrap his big arms around him. The last time he and Clark had been friends, really been friends, they’d both been in Smallville. They’d both made so many mistakes. They had been too young and too in love not to mess it all up.
Or rather, Lex had been too in love. His heart throbbed painfully at the thought that Clark had replaced him almost immediately the moment he broke free of what had been happening to them. He wasn’t even sure now that he wanted to save Clark from... whatever that was. Maybe he should just leave Kent and Lane to its mercy.
The cell phone in his pocket vibrated, and Lex let it buzz. Then a purplish fleck appeared in the sky. Lex slit his eyes and leaned forward slightly. All at once, the fleck grew into an enormous, red and purple maw in the middle of the Metropolis skyline.
“What?” Lex fumbled for his cell and dialed Mercy. “Where are you?”
“Calling you. Have you seen-?”
“Yes. Get the team of specialists on it. Have them take whatever measurements they can before it closes again,” Lex ordered, jumping up but still keeping his eye on the thing in the sky.
“Yes, boss. Are you coming down?”
Lex was silent for a moment. Something was flying out of the hole in the sky.
“Boss?”
“Yes. Pull out all of our defense systems as well, Mercy. We may well need them.”
***
“Where are you going?” Clark stood from their booth at O’Donald’s, where Lois had suddenly darted for the door with her purse clasped tightly in hand.
“Did you see that? That’s the same sky flower thing that was there before!” Lois pulled her camera out of her purse and ran outside to begin snapping pictures.
Clark gaped for a moment before following close behind her. “Lois, be careful. That’s a dimensional portal-”
“Relax, Smallville.” She smirked and took another picture. “Superman will save me.”
“I’m just thinking you should get inside. We don’t know what’s going to come out of that thing,” Clark warned. He looked around for somewhere to change.
“Fine, I’ll go inside.” Lois tilted her head to the side and snapped another picture. “In a minute.”
Clark opened his mouth to argue, but he heard the cry of a child and instinctively sped in that direction. Just in time he grabbed a little boy before a shot of lightening coming from the portal struck.
“Got you!” Clark held the boy tightly and took the lighting bolt in the back. The boy wailed in terror, and Clark looked around for his mother. “Let’s get you safe, kiddo. How about I drop you off at O’Donald’s? I’ll get you an O’Sundae.”
The boy whimpered for a moment as Clark lifted him up.
“Is your mom around?” Clark asked. His head whipped back as he heard someone else calling for him. He sped behind the building, dropped the kid off there so he would be blocked from anything coming from the portal, and after telling him to stay, headed out to make sure no one else was hurt by the spontaneously opened portal.
He didn’t have the time to get his suit, so he hoped that no one noticed Superman’s colors were different today. His speed remained constant, and he made sure to get people out of the way as quickly as possible and to take the damage himself. This shirt was ruined anyway, and it was easier to protect them that way. By the time the portal began to shrink in size, Clark had lost count of people he’d shielded or moved.
In the middle of the street, he scanned the area and returned to where he’d left the boy. Thankfully, the kid hadn’t gone far, and he took his hand gently. Suit or no, the kid seemed to know that he was Superman. “I’ll get you home somehow, okay?”
“Okay,” the boy whispered shyly. He’d stopped crying and wiped his face, causing a smudge over his soft cheek. “City’s dirty.”
“Yeah, what a mess,” Clark agreed. “But I’ll go out with the League later and clean things up. Batman will want to know what happened, and why.”
“Batman’s scary!” the boy declared.
“Yeah, he can be. But he’s a good guy...” Clark trailed off as he approached the O’Donald’s.
“Ketchup!” The boy pointed at the front of the restaurant, where a huge red splatter extended from the glass doors to the O’Playplace.
Clark’s jaw went slack as his eyes drifted over the greasy smear. They stopped at the broken camera on the ground.
The boy started crying again, frightened by the horrible scream coming from Superman.
***
An hour later, Clark staggered home. He’d yet to contact Bruce or any of the other members of the League, although he didn’t need to have his communicator on him to know they’d been calling him. He dropped on the sofa and closed his eyes. He should have tied Lois up inside O’Donald’s. He should have made sure she was safe...
“Mrrow?” Miss Kitty seemed to ask. She wiggled her butt and then jumped into Clark’s lap. His hand automatically began to pet her.
“Lois can’t be dead...” he murmured, almost disconnected from himself.
“Mrrrrow!”
Clark jumped when his phone began to ring. Lois’ ring. “Oh, God... Oh...”
He stared at the phone for a long moment, then opened it.
“Smallville, did you see that in the sky just now? You’d better have gotten some pictures or something. That’s first page material!”
“Lois, you’re alive!” Clark gaped.
“What? Duh. Tell your boyfriend Superman I want the skinny on these sky flower thingies.”
“I... I have to get back to you, Lois, okay? I have to go.” Clark shut his phone to Lois’ protests, then got up to the cat’s protests. In a daze, he walked into the bedroom, looking around as though it were all foreign to him. “Where...?”
Flickering ghosts of an image flashed in front of his eyes for a brief moment.
“Where are the pictures of me and Lex?”
***
“My lab,” Lex said firmly. He walked up to the large display screens projecting the information they were collecting. “My lab. Excellent.”
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Pritchard replied. He moved his fingers quickly over the main panel. “We’ve been taking readings of the area where the anomaly appeared.”
“I can see that.” Lex rubbed his mouth. “Can you bring up the other thing I asked you to take readings on?”
“We’re not exactly sure why you wanted us to take readings on an apartment building just a few blocks away from Suicide Slums.” Pritchard shook his head as he brought up their current findings. “But you were right. There’s a lot of disturbance surrounding that area, both temporal and spatial. Do you know what’s causing this?”
“I do. I admit, I was beginning to doubt myself.” Lex drew in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at the screen. He touched the windows on the screen, moving them around and analyzing what he was seeing. “But now that I’m looking at the data, it becomes obvious. The disturbances are happening all around this area, but along with each, there are-”
When the lab door burst open, the scientists scattered, running to get behind equipment. Funny how a career track that involved being constantly assaulted by men (and a few women) in tights benefited them in that moment.
Instinctively Lex pulled out his gun and shot at the intruders. To his disbelief, the bullet ricocheted off of the armor one of the men was wearing.
Armor. These freaks were wearing armor.
After diving behind a console where his scientists were already cowering, Lex got a good look at their intruders. The armor was a tip off, but in addition to that, their skins were tattooed with strange symbols, and one of them carried a long staff with a glowing orb mounted on the top.
“Goddamn cat,” Lex muttered. Out of the corner of the eye, he spotted Pritchard trying to dart for the back exit. “No! You stupid coward!” he hissed. “Get back here!”
The man with the staff twirled it around smoothly, then pointed it in the escaping scientist’s direction. Immediately his body quivered and burst, splattering the clean white walls of the lab with blood and entrails.
The other scientists were horrified. The League, at least, would not kill them. They had rules.
“Stay still,” Lex ordered. He pulled out his cell phone. “Mercy. I need back up down here. Bring the Suit.”
“We demand the Key,” one of the intruders boomed. “Relinquish it, and thou shalt be spared.”
“It must be destroyed!” another intruder practically sang.
Behind Lex, the acrid odor of urine made itself known. He hadn’t hired these scientists for their courage, after all.
“I know the location of the Key,” Lex boomed, not coming out from his hiding place just yet. He inched toward the console on the left. “But you will have to ensure the safety of my employees first.”
“The Order of Dioleolo makes no compromise!” the first voice cried. “Show yourselves or face our righteous wrath!”
“Seems like we’ll be facing your wrath either way, oh righteous ones.”
Lex’s outreached hand touched a latch on the underside of the console. It clanged open as the panel fell on the floor. A specialist behind him screamed at the sudden noise, and there was a shuffling of boots. Their Ren Faire reject guests appeared with the staff pointed directly at Lex.
He pulled the metal panel over his head, deflecting the bolt from the staff, which caused one of their own men to explode. Then Lex whipped a gun the size of his arm around, firing on them repeatedly. When he finally stopped, Lex came to his feet, walked over them and looked over their enemies. Their ridiculous armor down to their flesh was completely frozen.
“I love this freeze ray. And the investors said inventing it was impractical,” Lex said jovially. He kicked one of the Order over, walking away as the man shattered against the ground.
***
Clark yawned widely and stretched his arms over his head as sunlight streamed into his apartment. There wasn’t much room in the bed and his limbs knocked against his partner, who yanked on the covers and pulled them over his head.
“Aw. Good morning!” Clark said cheerfully.
“Mmph,” the person under the covers complained.
Clark chuckled and tried to pry the covers away. “C’mon. Gimme a morning kiss before I go to work.”
Clark slipped his arm around his bedmate friskily.
“Mmph!”
A foot kicked backward into Clark’s shin, then came a pained yelp as the person fell out of the small bed onto the floor.
Clark cringed. Kicking the invulnerable alien in bed probably didn’t feel good. “Sorry, Bruce.”
“Urgh.” Bruce winced at the bright light and stumbled to his feet.
“That was awkward,” Clark murmured. He needed to get a bigger bed for when Bruce stayed over.
“You think?” Bruce snapped.
Okay, so Bruce wasn’t a morning person. At all.
He limped across the room and stopped as the cat stepped in his way to trip him up, then hissed at him.
“Dammit, cat!” Bruce stepped backward and ruffled his hair.
“I don’t understand it. Midnight just won’t warm up to you,” Clark said unhappily. He watched Bruce retreat into the bathroom.
“I have issues with cats.”
“Clearly.” Clark sighed and reached for Midnight, his sweet ragdoll cat that he’d recently gotten and Bruce had named. She mewed repeatedly and butted her head against his leg. “Why don’t you like Bruce, huh?”
He scratched behind her ears and sighed again as he listened to Bruce getting into the shower. Clark could hear him groaning as he leaned against the wall and let the water hit the back covered in bruises and scars. Often, Clark wished that Bruce would let Clark in more, let him help more. Sometimes being with Bruce was as lonely, or moreso, than just being alone. Sometimes, Clark wondered if being with Bruce was even good for the other man, and if Bruce wouldn’t just be better off with a really good friend who didn’t demand of him things that he couldn’t give.
The little cat complained as Clark got up and went into his empty bathroom to brush his teeth. “Stop complaining, Mau. I’ll feed you in a minute.”
Clark was happy to have that needy little cat in his life, though. He hated to be alone.
Pairing: Clex
Rating: PG13
Warning: Violence
Includes: temporary mpreg, temporary character deaths
Summary: Clark gets Lex a pet cat… that's not quite a cat.
Author’s Notes:
1. Continuity Post S3 finale.
2. This is a
help_haiti fic for tallihensia, who has been awfully patient to get this. 3. The Bennu bird serves as the Egyptian correlation to the phoenix, and is pictured as a heron. This relates to reinforce the Greek --> Egyptian name shift.
Thanks to
cheerful_earl and herohunter for the betas. :D“Until one has loved an animal a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
Anatole France
Part Four
“Mercy!” Lex bellowed, walking through the now familiar hallways. For the first time since he could remember, his head felt clear, his body felt like his own, and he knew exactly who he was and who lived with him.
That did not include children, Clark, or any variety of animal.
“Mercy!” he yelled again. When the woman ran into the hallway with her gun pulled, he stopped and looked at her hard. “Tell me what day it is, what my job is, and... Superman. What’s Superman up to?”
“It’s... Thursday. 3:00am. You’re the CEO of LexCorp and Superman... He’s Superman, sir. I’m not sure what you want to know,” she answered promptly. After a quick glance around the hallway she put her gun away.
“Is he my friend or enemy?” Lex asked. “Or...?”
“Or? You are enemies, as far as I know, boss.” Mercy stepped closer to him. “I can call a doctor, if you’d like. Did he knock you in the head again?”
“No. I... Trust that once again, I do know what I’m talking about.” Lex let out a huge sigh. “And once again, I’m going to somehow save the world by myself.”
“Well. It is Thursday.” Mercy shrugged and waited for Lex to give her the full story.
This building was not his own. But for however many months, Lex had lived here as though it were his home. His middle class, well-worn (but occasionally spacious) home, where he shared walls with the common people of Metropolis.
And he shared a bed with his nemesis.
When he reached the door, he knew Mercy was lurking about, his ever-present guard and confidant. He rapped on the door soundly. He knew the doorbell didn’t reach deep into the apartment.
“Coming!” Clark voice came muffled from within.
Lex waited impatiently, looking at his manicured hands, and remembering, briefly, cracked cuticles from washing dishes and cleaning the apartment. He remembered a little boy answering the door, with a head of black hair and clear gray eyes...
“Here!” Clark said cheerfully, opening the door. He straightened his back sharply upon seeing Lex’s face. “Oh. Hello, Luthor. I... uh...”
“Stop stammering, Kent, I have something serious to discuss with you,” Lex said tersely. It stung to hear Clark’s voice so cold, so unwelcoming. He didn’t love him now. But Lex had guessed as much, hadn’t he? “Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped.
Clark’s expression softened and he relaxed his shoulders and removed his glasses. “Are you okay, Luthor? I... I never expected you to come for a house call. I can’t think of why you’d want to come here, but... You could come inside?”
“I’m fine,” Lex assured him. He stepped into the humble apartment. “Have you felt any sense of disorientation lately? Of things not being as they should?”
“Um, I’m not sure,” Clark replied.
He followed Lex and his eyes raked over the man without a sense of subtly. Lex looked back at him and met Clark’s eyes. They looked at one another for a long time.
“Who was it?” a female voice asked from the other room.
Lex felt his insides grow cold. “Clark?”
A moment later, Lois Lane walked in, wiping her hands. “I burned dinner, Smallville. You’ll have to go for takeout again.”
“I thought you were going to take cooking classes,” Clark said with clear disappointment.
“I did.” Lois shrugged, then said blithely, “I can’t make a happy home. What’s baldshine doing here?”
“Don’t call him that,” Clark chided.
“No really, why’s this guy in my house?” she demanded.
“Apartment,” Lex corrected, eyeing her with as much venom as he could manage.
“Whatever. Get him outta here,” Lois ordered.
“He said he had something important to discuss with us,” Clark protested.
“With you,” Lex corrected. He felt a lot more ruffled than he should by Lois’ presence here. It felt violating to have her in his place.
“I’m the star reporter at The Daily Planet, hello?” Lois turned to Lex and put her hands on her hips. “If you want to give an interview, it should be with me.”
“I’m not giving anyone an interview. This is a little more important than...” Lex trailed off as he saw a sleek ragdoll cat padding into the living room. “Mau?”
Clark and Lois looked at one another in disbelief.
“Did you just meow?” Lois asked. She turned to Clark and whispered bluntly, “He’s cracked. Well, not like he was all that sane to begin with, but...”
Lex rolled his eyes. “I’m not meowing, you shrew. I’m referring to the cat.”
“The cat’s name is Miss Kitty,” she informed him.
“And you think Mau is a stupid cat name?” Lex asked, leaning down to touch the cat. She looked up at him and cocked her head to the side. “This isn’t a cat.”
“Luthor,” Clark said gently, in a tone Lex remember too well. A tone that spoke to Lex’s fragility, to his vulnerability. “Let me take you to the hospital. Did you take a hit to the head-?”
“Why is everyone suggesting that I’m concussed?” Lex stroked the side of Mau’s head. “Nothing has hit my shiny head.”
“Or someone’s drugged you,” Clark suggested. “Or there’s some form of Kryptonite, or someone with a spell. It could be anything, but you aren’t acting right.”
“Aren’t I?” Lex stood up. “How do you know that you are acting right? How do you know that this is where you are supposed to be, who you are supposed to be, and what you are supposed to be doing? Ask yourself, Clark, what you are doing here with Lane, and why are you playing house when the universe is in danger?”
“What do you expect me to do?” Clark asked nervously.
“I expect you to put on those smashing tights of yours, head to the Watchtower, and sort this out before every living thing on the planet is snuffed out on the whim of a deranged god or something like it!”
“You’re a lunatic!” Lois exploded. “And I don’t care how goddamn rich this ugly bastard is, I’m calling the police if he doesn’t leave right now.”
Clark held his hands up. “That isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is. Get. Him. Out,” Lois ordered, glaring at Clark.
“Don’t worry about it, Clark.” Lex turned. Away from his living room. Away from his cat. Away from his life with Clark. “I’m leaving. I can do this on my own.”
When Lex had left, Clark scratched the back of his head. “I... uh...” He stepped over to the sofa and sat down, then put his head in his hands. “Lois, I feel weird. This isn’t right.”
“Don’t let Luthor freak you out. Whatever he’s talking about, he probably caused it,” Lois reasoned, sitting beside Clark and rubbing his back. “How many times has he been involved when something utterly insane was going on?”
“Right now, I feel utterly insane. Like... I don’t know. I can’t describe it.” Clark looked up at her worriedly. “When was the last time he called me Clark?”
“Hell if I know. Probably back during your bromance days in Smallville.”
“Probably.” Clark stood and walked toward the kitchen, which was just filled with smoke. “I’m not letting you cook anymore.”
“Fine with me. You’re better suited to being a housewife than I am.”
“Come on.”
“And I think you’d look pretty good in the heels and pearls.”
Clark groaned and turned on the water at the sink. After splashing some water on his face, Clark frowned and looked at Lois again. “He knows that I’m Superman.”
“Not necessarily-”
“No! He knows. He told me to put on my suit and go to the Watchtower. He knows, and he expected me to know.” Clark’s eyes were round with alarm.
Lois leaned on the counter and fanned the air as she looked through the many takeout menus on the refrigerator. “Okay, there must be something seriously wrong with Luthor, because I can’t imagine him giving that information away to you if he had it. He’d want to keep that close to his chest until he could use it against you.”
“I don’t know...”
“Stop worrying about this and let’s go out to eat. I have to go meet a source later.” Lois shrugged and picked up Miss Kitty as the cat meowed for attention.
Clark raked his hand through his hair as his worry about Lex melted away. “Are you thinking formal or casual?”
The study in the penthouse was three times the size of the pathetic little office (sometimes nursery) that Lex had back at Clark’s apartment. And yet Lex found himself curled up in the corner of the large window seat, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and cashmere track pants and socks. It had been a while since he’d been able to look down at his city like this. Well...
In his mind it had been a while. In reality, no time had really passed at all.
Curling his shirtsleeves around his fingers, it felt strange to be sitting here alone, slightly chilly, and not have Clark come up behind him and wrap his big arms around him. The last time he and Clark had been friends, really been friends, they’d both been in Smallville. They’d both made so many mistakes. They had been too young and too in love not to mess it all up.
Or rather, Lex had been too in love. His heart throbbed painfully at the thought that Clark had replaced him almost immediately the moment he broke free of what had been happening to them. He wasn’t even sure now that he wanted to save Clark from... whatever that was. Maybe he should just leave Kent and Lane to its mercy.
The cell phone in his pocket vibrated, and Lex let it buzz. Then a purplish fleck appeared in the sky. Lex slit his eyes and leaned forward slightly. All at once, the fleck grew into an enormous, red and purple maw in the middle of the Metropolis skyline.
“What?” Lex fumbled for his cell and dialed Mercy. “Where are you?”
“Calling you. Have you seen-?”
“Yes. Get the team of specialists on it. Have them take whatever measurements they can before it closes again,” Lex ordered, jumping up but still keeping his eye on the thing in the sky.
“Yes, boss. Are you coming down?”
Lex was silent for a moment. Something was flying out of the hole in the sky.
“Boss?”
“Yes. Pull out all of our defense systems as well, Mercy. We may well need them.”
“Where are you going?” Clark stood from their booth at O’Donald’s, where Lois had suddenly darted for the door with her purse clasped tightly in hand.
“Did you see that? That’s the same sky flower thing that was there before!” Lois pulled her camera out of her purse and ran outside to begin snapping pictures.
Clark gaped for a moment before following close behind her. “Lois, be careful. That’s a dimensional portal-”
“Relax, Smallville.” She smirked and took another picture. “Superman will save me.”
“I’m just thinking you should get inside. We don’t know what’s going to come out of that thing,” Clark warned. He looked around for somewhere to change.
“Fine, I’ll go inside.” Lois tilted her head to the side and snapped another picture. “In a minute.”
Clark opened his mouth to argue, but he heard the cry of a child and instinctively sped in that direction. Just in time he grabbed a little boy before a shot of lightening coming from the portal struck.
“Got you!” Clark held the boy tightly and took the lighting bolt in the back. The boy wailed in terror, and Clark looked around for his mother. “Let’s get you safe, kiddo. How about I drop you off at O’Donald’s? I’ll get you an O’Sundae.”
The boy whimpered for a moment as Clark lifted him up.
“Is your mom around?” Clark asked. His head whipped back as he heard someone else calling for him. He sped behind the building, dropped the kid off there so he would be blocked from anything coming from the portal, and after telling him to stay, headed out to make sure no one else was hurt by the spontaneously opened portal.
He didn’t have the time to get his suit, so he hoped that no one noticed Superman’s colors were different today. His speed remained constant, and he made sure to get people out of the way as quickly as possible and to take the damage himself. This shirt was ruined anyway, and it was easier to protect them that way. By the time the portal began to shrink in size, Clark had lost count of people he’d shielded or moved.
In the middle of the street, he scanned the area and returned to where he’d left the boy. Thankfully, the kid hadn’t gone far, and he took his hand gently. Suit or no, the kid seemed to know that he was Superman. “I’ll get you home somehow, okay?”
“Okay,” the boy whispered shyly. He’d stopped crying and wiped his face, causing a smudge over his soft cheek. “City’s dirty.”
“Yeah, what a mess,” Clark agreed. “But I’ll go out with the League later and clean things up. Batman will want to know what happened, and why.”
“Batman’s scary!” the boy declared.
“Yeah, he can be. But he’s a good guy...” Clark trailed off as he approached the O’Donald’s.
“Ketchup!” The boy pointed at the front of the restaurant, where a huge red splatter extended from the glass doors to the O’Playplace.
Clark’s jaw went slack as his eyes drifted over the greasy smear. They stopped at the broken camera on the ground.
The boy started crying again, frightened by the horrible scream coming from Superman.
An hour later, Clark staggered home. He’d yet to contact Bruce or any of the other members of the League, although he didn’t need to have his communicator on him to know they’d been calling him. He dropped on the sofa and closed his eyes. He should have tied Lois up inside O’Donald’s. He should have made sure she was safe...
“Mrrow?” Miss Kitty seemed to ask. She wiggled her butt and then jumped into Clark’s lap. His hand automatically began to pet her.
“Lois can’t be dead...” he murmured, almost disconnected from himself.
“Mrrrrow!”
Clark jumped when his phone began to ring. Lois’ ring. “Oh, God... Oh...”
He stared at the phone for a long moment, then opened it.
“Smallville, did you see that in the sky just now? You’d better have gotten some pictures or something. That’s first page material!”
“Lois, you’re alive!” Clark gaped.
“What? Duh. Tell your boyfriend Superman I want the skinny on these sky flower thingies.”
“I... I have to get back to you, Lois, okay? I have to go.” Clark shut his phone to Lois’ protests, then got up to the cat’s protests. In a daze, he walked into the bedroom, looking around as though it were all foreign to him. “Where...?”
Flickering ghosts of an image flashed in front of his eyes for a brief moment.
“Where are the pictures of me and Lex?”
“My lab,” Lex said firmly. He walked up to the large display screens projecting the information they were collecting. “My lab. Excellent.”
“Yes, sir,” Dr. Pritchard replied. He moved his fingers quickly over the main panel. “We’ve been taking readings of the area where the anomaly appeared.”
“I can see that.” Lex rubbed his mouth. “Can you bring up the other thing I asked you to take readings on?”
“We’re not exactly sure why you wanted us to take readings on an apartment building just a few blocks away from Suicide Slums.” Pritchard shook his head as he brought up their current findings. “But you were right. There’s a lot of disturbance surrounding that area, both temporal and spatial. Do you know what’s causing this?”
“I do. I admit, I was beginning to doubt myself.” Lex drew in a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at the screen. He touched the windows on the screen, moving them around and analyzing what he was seeing. “But now that I’m looking at the data, it becomes obvious. The disturbances are happening all around this area, but along with each, there are-”
When the lab door burst open, the scientists scattered, running to get behind equipment. Funny how a career track that involved being constantly assaulted by men (and a few women) in tights benefited them in that moment.
Instinctively Lex pulled out his gun and shot at the intruders. To his disbelief, the bullet ricocheted off of the armor one of the men was wearing.
Armor. These freaks were wearing armor.
After diving behind a console where his scientists were already cowering, Lex got a good look at their intruders. The armor was a tip off, but in addition to that, their skins were tattooed with strange symbols, and one of them carried a long staff with a glowing orb mounted on the top.
“Goddamn cat,” Lex muttered. Out of the corner of the eye, he spotted Pritchard trying to dart for the back exit. “No! You stupid coward!” he hissed. “Get back here!”
The man with the staff twirled it around smoothly, then pointed it in the escaping scientist’s direction. Immediately his body quivered and burst, splattering the clean white walls of the lab with blood and entrails.
The other scientists were horrified. The League, at least, would not kill them. They had rules.
“Stay still,” Lex ordered. He pulled out his cell phone. “Mercy. I need back up down here. Bring the Suit.”
“We demand the Key,” one of the intruders boomed. “Relinquish it, and thou shalt be spared.”
“It must be destroyed!” another intruder practically sang.
Behind Lex, the acrid odor of urine made itself known. He hadn’t hired these scientists for their courage, after all.
“I know the location of the Key,” Lex boomed, not coming out from his hiding place just yet. He inched toward the console on the left. “But you will have to ensure the safety of my employees first.”
“The Order of Dioleolo makes no compromise!” the first voice cried. “Show yourselves or face our righteous wrath!”
“Seems like we’ll be facing your wrath either way, oh righteous ones.”
Lex’s outreached hand touched a latch on the underside of the console. It clanged open as the panel fell on the floor. A specialist behind him screamed at the sudden noise, and there was a shuffling of boots. Their Ren Faire reject guests appeared with the staff pointed directly at Lex.
He pulled the metal panel over his head, deflecting the bolt from the staff, which caused one of their own men to explode. Then Lex whipped a gun the size of his arm around, firing on them repeatedly. When he finally stopped, Lex came to his feet, walked over them and looked over their enemies. Their ridiculous armor down to their flesh was completely frozen.
“I love this freeze ray. And the investors said inventing it was impractical,” Lex said jovially. He kicked one of the Order over, walking away as the man shattered against the ground.
Clark yawned widely and stretched his arms over his head as sunlight streamed into his apartment. There wasn’t much room in the bed and his limbs knocked against his partner, who yanked on the covers and pulled them over his head.
“Aw. Good morning!” Clark said cheerfully.
“Mmph,” the person under the covers complained.
Clark chuckled and tried to pry the covers away. “C’mon. Gimme a morning kiss before I go to work.”
Clark slipped his arm around his bedmate friskily.
“Mmph!”
A foot kicked backward into Clark’s shin, then came a pained yelp as the person fell out of the small bed onto the floor.
Clark cringed. Kicking the invulnerable alien in bed probably didn’t feel good. “Sorry, Bruce.”
“Urgh.” Bruce winced at the bright light and stumbled to his feet.
“That was awkward,” Clark murmured. He needed to get a bigger bed for when Bruce stayed over.
“You think?” Bruce snapped.
Okay, so Bruce wasn’t a morning person. At all.
He limped across the room and stopped as the cat stepped in his way to trip him up, then hissed at him.
“Dammit, cat!” Bruce stepped backward and ruffled his hair.
“I don’t understand it. Midnight just won’t warm up to you,” Clark said unhappily. He watched Bruce retreat into the bathroom.
“I have issues with cats.”
“Clearly.” Clark sighed and reached for Midnight, his sweet ragdoll cat that he’d recently gotten and Bruce had named. She mewed repeatedly and butted her head against his leg. “Why don’t you like Bruce, huh?”
He scratched behind her ears and sighed again as he listened to Bruce getting into the shower. Clark could hear him groaning as he leaned against the wall and let the water hit the back covered in bruises and scars. Often, Clark wished that Bruce would let Clark in more, let him help more. Sometimes being with Bruce was as lonely, or moreso, than just being alone. Sometimes, Clark wondered if being with Bruce was even good for the other man, and if Bruce wouldn’t just be better off with a really good friend who didn’t demand of him things that he couldn’t give.
The little cat complained as Clark got up and went into his empty bathroom to brush his teeth. “Stop complaining, Mau. I’ll feed you in a minute.”
Clark was happy to have that needy little cat in his life, though. He hated to be alone.
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Date: 2010-06-14 01:29 am (UTC)From:“No. I... Trust that once again, I do know what I’m talking about.” Lex let out a huge sigh. “And once again, I’m going to somehow save the world by myself.”
ROTFL! GO LEX! GO LEX!! ^____________^
Loved this chapter. Just really wonderful. I adore that Lex knows what is going on and is fixing it while at the center, Clark is still being swept up in all the problems. When he does realize that things are wrong... mostly it's Lex he misses. Awww...
Can't wait for Lex to save the world. ;D With his freeze gun. ^^
no subject
Date: 2010-06-14 04:23 am (UTC)From:Lex is a smart cookie. It's hard for him to sit back and pretend things are as they should be. Mad science gadgets are bonus ^^