Chlark Fanfic: Crisis, Chapter 3
Title: Crisis
Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlark/Kaloe
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Graphic sex, non-con/rape, angst. Kal isn’t going to come off very nice in this story (see the warnings), so if you’re a fan of his, you might want to look away now.
Timeline: Season 2-3 (Exodus - Exile; Clark’s RedK Summer)
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: A violent encounter between Chloe and Clark threatens to destroy their friendship forever.
Feedback: …is much appreciated. J
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Previously: “It’s Clark…I know where he is.”
Chapter 3
11:55pm, Saturday
Jonathan Kent stared at Chloe with warring hope and disbelief.
“You found Clark?” he said, his voice laden with emotion. “Wow, that’s the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Where is he? Is he alright?”
“At an apartment in Metropolis.” She reached into her pocket and fished out a crumpled up piece of paper, which she handed to him. “Here’s the address.”
Jonathan gazed at the paper, and then looked up at Chloe with a piercing gaze. “How long have you known his whereabouts?”
She swallowed. “A few months now.”
His jaw hardened. “And you kept it from us all this time?” he said, his voice rising in anger. “You watched me and Martha go through hell, wondering where our son is, and all the time, you knew?”
“He said that if I told anyone where he was, he would take off,” she explained. “He threatened to disappear, and said that none of us would ever see him again.”
“You just liked the idea of being the only person who knew where he was,” Jonathan Kent said, a look of disgust on his face. “How can you stand there, knowing that you deceived all of us and kept us in the dark about something so important?”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand,” she said. “Clark’s not the same person he was when he left here. He’s…different.”
Something in her words caught his attention, almost as though he’d half-expected it. “Different, how?” he asked, his voice low.
“Violent, and cruel…he’s like a loose canon, ready to go off at a moments notice, and he doesn’t care who he hurts,” she said. “Mr Kent, I…I think he may be on drugs.”
Jonathan Kent ran a hand through his unruly blond hair. “You said he threatened to run away again if you told anyone where he was,” he said. “So why are you telling us now?”
“He’s gotten out of control,” she said. I thought I was getting through to him, on my visits. “He’d say how much he missed home, and that he wished he could return, and then all of a sudden, he…he changed. If he isn’t stopped soon, he’ll hurt someone.”
“Has he hurt someone already?” Jonathan asked, his voice filled with dread.
She didn’t answer, and Jonathan looked her over suspiciously.
“Did he hurt you, Chloe?” he asked quietly, a worried expression in his blue eyes.
“He rough-handled me a bit and physically threw me out of his apartment,” she said.
“That’s not all, is it?” Jonathan asked softly. “What aren’t you telling me, Chloe?”
Like all good parents, Jonathan Kent heard the words she hadn’t said.
“He just needs to get away from the city,” she replied, ignoring his questions. “I’m sure he’ll be okay once he’s back in Smallville -”
“Chloe?”
She pursed her lips and remained silent.
“What did he do to you?” he asked, his voice gentle but fearful.
She got to her feet and headed for the front door. “Just bring him home, Mr. Kent. He’ll be okay then.” She opened the door and headed out into the night.
***
“Martha?” Jonathan said, shaking his wife’s shoulder. “Martha, honey, wake up.”
Martha Kent opened her tired eyes and glanced at the clock under the bedside lamp. “It’s a little early for the milking…” she began.
“Chloe was just here,” he said. “She told me where Clark is.”
Martha instantly came awake and sat up abruptly. “Oh, my God. Where did she find him?”
“He’s at an apartment in Metropolis, but she said he’s changed. Martha I…I think he’s on red kryptonite again.”
Her face fell. “Oh, no. Please tell me he hasn’t been throwing people around again.”
“I’m afraid it’s not good news,” he said regretfully. “He hurt Chloe, and I need to bring him home before he hurts anyone else.”
“Poor Chloe,” she said, concern creasing her brow. “Is she okay?”
“She said she was fine, but…” he swallowed, then continued. “Martha, I think she may need to talk to someone. Maybe a…a rape crisis counsellor.”
The blood drained from his her face, and she visibly aged about ten years.
“No,” she whispered, horrified. “Oh, no. Clark would never…oh God, no,” she moaned in anguish, burying her face in her hands. “Did Chloe say…?”
“It’s what she didn’t say, Martha,” he said. “All she said is that he was rough with her and threw her out of his apartment, but every instinct I possess tells me that something really bad happened.”
“You need to bring him home, Jonathan,” she said brokenly. “We need to stop him before he hurts someone else.”
“I will, Martha, I promise. I’ll bring him home - by any means necessary.”
“But how?” she cried. “He’s a hundred times stronger than you are, he’ll never submit to you.”
“I know that,” he said. “That’s why I need to make a quick trip to the Kawatche caves.”
“Jor-El,” she whispered. “Jonathan, what are you going to do?”
“It’s his fault that Clark ran away,” he said grimly as he stood and shrugged on his coat. “He’s going to help me bring him back.”
***
“You should not have come here, Jonathan Kent,” same the disembodied voice of Clark’s biological father, Jor-El. “The young man you knew as Clark is all but gone. It is Kal-El’s time to arise and fulfill his destiny.”
“What have you done to my son, Jor-El?” he yelled threateningly.
“My son has been responding favourably to Kryptonian conditioning designed to steer him towards his destined path.”
“Conditioning?” he shouted, his voice echoing around the cavernous room. You mean you’ve been brainwashing him?”
“Kal-El has been buried beneath his human persona for far too long,” Jor-El said. “Fortunately the Kryptonian technology designed to deal with dissidents and persuade them to comply with society’s laws was downloaded into him from these walls, and is systematically erasing Clark Kent’s influence over Kal-El.”
“You’ve turned him into a mindless thug!” he screamed.
“Some measure of force and control is necessary in the apprehension of criminals, even here on earth,” the voice continued. “Kal-El is destined to be a great leader, but Clark Kent is holding him back. The more Kal-El is weakened by Clark, the stronger the correction gets.”
“Well, your data must be corrupted or outdated or both,” he snarled. “Because Clark just sexually assaulted an innocent girl! Is that the kind of monster you want your son to become?”
The AI was silent for several moments. When next he spoke, his voice was grim.
“Innocents are not to be harmed,” Jor-El replied, “but it appears the program has been infusing Kal-El with concentrated doses in an effort to rid him of Clark, and has subsequently malfunctioned.”
“You have to stop it!” Jonathan urged. “Shut it down, turn it off, but do something-”
“I have no control over the program,” Jor-El said stoically. “The Brain InterActive Construct is self-aware and designed to run within its host until the desired effect is achieved.”
“You didn’t think to build an emergency switch into the thing in case things went wrong?” Jonathan shouted in disbelief.
“Kryptonian technology has not been known to fail,” he replied.
“Well, congratulations, it just did,” Jonathan spat. “And now your son is on course to be a cold-blooded killer. You must be so proud of yourself.”
“That is impossible,” the AI replied. “This particular Brainiac program is coded with a specific ‘no-kill’ directive. if Kal-El were ever to deliberately take a life, it would self-destruct, and the host would be destroyed in the process.”
Jonathan stopped short and considered this. “Wait…he can’t kill anyone, no matter how provoked he gets?”
“Precisely.”
Jonathan thought quickly. According to Jor-El, Clark was subliminally fighting hard against embracing his Kryptonian destiny. If he could get Clark riled up enough to face his own inner demons, then maybe they stood a fighting chance.
All it meant was that he had to get Clark really, really angry…
Angry enough to want to kill him.
Jonathan took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. There were so many ways this could go wrong. He could end up getting killed, which would in turn kill Clark. Or the power struggle between Clark, Kal-El and the Brain InterActive Construct could destroy Clark’s mind, and he could end up in Belle Reve for the rest of his life.
But he was most hopeful that Clark’s survival instinct would triumph over Kal-El and Brainiac, and he’d fight his way back to the surface.
“Jor-El, I believe I’ve found a way to shut Brainiac down, but there is something I need from you first,” he said.
Silence. Then: “How can I assist you, Jonathan Kent?”
Jonathan swallowed hard. Then he said with as much authority as he could muster:
“I need you to give me abilities, like Clark’s.”
***
Chapter 4…