The Just Destiny of Fools: Chapter 5
[book cover by imera]
The Just Destiny of Fools
Summary: Smallville AU. Marcus is captivated by a visiting Luthor Corp. executive and her talk of Destiny. But is her not being a Luthor enough reason to trust her? And is Esca pulling Marcus way from or pushing him towards her?
Pairings: Marcus / Esca, Marcus / Tess. If you squint hard: Marcus / Placidus (aka Sid) and Esca / Liathan in their pasts.
Spoilers: Smallville seasons 4 - 10.
Word Count: 27.1 k.
Rating: Teen or PG-13.
Notes
Starts at Smallville season 4 where they are high school seniors and goes from there. The Seal Prince, I’ve given him the name Liathan from the book. As for Placidus, I renamed him Sid to sound more contemporary and modern.
[Warnings:]
Warnings
Rated for disability, ableism, kidnappings, dub-con and non-con sexual battery, D / s dynamics, sub drops, discussions of rape, self harm.
Tess x Marcus: No sex but psychologically D / s.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the ever loving sistermine for being the ever patient beta reader through many drafts, and imera for the beautiful cover.
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Chapter 5
Later that evening, Marcus lies on the couch, looks up at the ceiling, and says, “I’m a failure - just like my father.”
“You’re not like your father.” Esca brings over water and beef jerky and pumpkin pie to the end table by the couch.
“Right. Dad gave up in the face of Luthors. I submit to them. Two totally different things.”
“You don’t submit to them.” Esca spreads a blanket over Marcus. “Only one of them. And besides - ”
“A Luthor who’s not really a Luthor. That’s how you try to make me feel better?”
“Maybe you need to find the right person to submit to.” Esca settles himself on top of Marcus, cheeks resting on Marcus’s chest.
“Maybe.” Marcus begins to wrap his arms around Esca but then moves a hand up to Esca’s cheek and the other down to Esca’s hand. Pins and needles zing through his legs, he begins to feel warmer, and his heart beats stronger. He nudges Esca so he can look into his eyes blowing wide. “Now?”
“Stay!” Esca pushes Marcus back down.
“But you’re - ”
“Rest!” Esca pins down Marcus. Then, leaning in closer, he whispers, “Oh yes I am right now. But don’t worry. Tomorrow, I’ll test you - thoroughly test you.”
Breathe, Marcus tells himself. Breathe
“Tomorrow will be a test. Tomorrow night will be another test.”
“Tonight?”
“Your rest is your preparation is your first test.”
“Ah.” Marcus settles into the couch and closes his eyes as Esca settles onto him again. So. More stress means more bitter, more savory, and more sweet.
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“Tell me again how Checkmate won’t hurt Clark?” Marcus asks Tess as he tills a pot’s soil. “So you spied on Lex for them. But the enemy of my enemy could still be my enemy.”
“I’m sure Martha would never allow anyone to hurt her son.”
“Wait? Mrs. Kent?”
“She’s quite the player in Washington DC now.”
“Is that why you’re telling me this? Because of her? I doubt your boss - Amanda Waller, right? - agrees. And she’s your boss only at Checkmate, right?”
“Yes, she has no authority over what I do at The Daily Planet nor at Luthor Corp. And yes, Amanda and Martha don’t see eye to eye on everything. But we all agree that aliens and super-powered humans are especially destructive. Which is why you steer clear of meteor-infected people and shape shifters and other such beings, right?”
“Esca and I steer clear of most people.” Marcus looks out the greenhouse and notes the darkening sky; the days growing longer should make everything feel brighter bit by bit. “We’re not all dangerous; they know that right? Seriously, that agency you work for sounds full of people bigoted against people like me.”
“Martha and I are aware of that, yes. Though, everyone has different ideas. But I’ll see how that plays out. People will make moves and people will get in each others’ way. If I see a good opportunity . . .”
“Why do you get to make moves and not I?”
“When you have power, you give yourself permission.”
“I thought it goes, ‘When you have power, you don’t need permission.’ ”
“But if you don’t give yourself permission, then who will?”
“ . . . Oh . . .”
“I used to be like you - powerless. In due time, you’ll figure out your own power.”
“I already do.”
“Not your abilities. Your power - the world doing your will.”
“That’ll never happen.”
“You got me onto Clark’s side.”
“Doing shady things.”
“If it weren’t for you - and this is before Martha joined Checkmate - I would have been more suspicious of him. I made a deal with you, you countered with your own deal. So. If you’re ever ready. I’d take you on as a protégé. Or maybe not you. Maybe Lois Lane.”
“Please. After what she did to my uncle’s dog’s tail - and she ran over Clark’s dog! - Esca and I hug Cub tightly every time we see her.”
Tess laughs.
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By the time a put-put ambles up the driveway, the slow cooker still hasn’t been emptied out into a serving bowl - instead, it’s been set to warm.
“The tractor parts’ll arrive - ” Esca cuts himself short at the sight of Marcus in the middle of the living room, taking off his shirt, muscles flexing and tightening and eyes blown wide. “You. Bed. Face down. Now!”
Afterwards - after they’re exhausted and collapsed on the bed - Esca manages to mumble out, “This . . . is different.”
“Besides you, I don’t think I’ve ever thought anyone thought of me as sexy.”
“And you wonder why I thought it was a bad idea for you to date Sid.”
“Hm. I thought he and I could bond over being meteor-infected.”
“As much as I loved seeing you shoot him down every time he opened his mouth, he said a lot of awful things about you. I never liked hearing him call you ‘cripple’ or ‘liability.’ How dare he blame you for his own insecurities.”
“So: While I was waiting for you to come home, I realized a few things. If I never believed Sid, then why did I act like it? All this not being around people or dressed in bulky layers when I am. I’ve never tried to be sexy.”
“Why try now?”
“Maybe I’m slow to figure things out?”
Esca rolls his eyes.
“Just trying to figure out how much of it I can control.”
“And?”
“Do you like?”
Esca eyes Marcus’s body up and down and back up again. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind eye candy around the farm.”
“Well then, I got what I wanted.”
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The summer and most of the spring pass uneventfully until late May when Tess comes by. A colder and more stressful winter has made the plants come out of dormancy earlier than normal and a few plants already have green berries a few weeks early and with slightly higher then normal concentrations of alkaloids.
“Good job,” Tess praises a beaming Marcus standing beside her. “I trust you’ll continue on without direction from me?”
“Where are you going?” Marcus frowns.
“I need to be as flexible as possible. But I’ll email you an itinerary to the Arctic Circle.”
“Lex disappeared there.”
“This has nothing to do with Lex.”
“Then for?”
“Fate or destiny. If I can help it, destiny.”
“Zod. You have to let me do something.”
“And that something is staying here. I can’t lose you. I’ve lost Oliver and Clark - ”
“You worked with Zod.”
“And I’ve lost Zod.”
“You never had him. Not when your first encounter with him was his beating you.”
“And you? Do I still have you?”
“Between Zod and Checkmate you’ve been acting Luthor-esque lately with all your power grabs. You said you wouldn’t hurt Clark, but you work with those you wouldn’t trust with Clark.”
“I wanted him to achieve his destiny.”
“So you bind him to his fate?”
“Marcus. Why are you still here?”
“Because I want to stay a farmer and to keep Esca. But I told you: As long as you remember you’re not a Luthor, you’ll have my willing faith and loyalty.”
With one hand, Tess reaches for Marcus’s cheek and her other hand reaches for Marcus’s hand and Marcus steps in closer to Tess.
“Marcus. I will go to the Arctic Circle. And I will prove to you everything you want - my loyalty to Clark, and that I am not a Luthor.”
“But Zod . . .”
“Stay here. And if I die and stay dead, consider that your release from me and your nothingness.”
As Tess leaves the greenhouse and Marcus follows, they meet Esca with Cub on a leash. Esca lets Tess pass by to go on through the house but he pulls Marcus back, keeping Marcus with him between the greenhouse and the house.
“I heard all that,” Esca says. “So if she dies, we lose the farm? Or you leave?”
“She won’t die.”
“And you are so sure?”
“For every enemy who wants her dead, there is another enemy who wants her alive.”
“To believe the latter, you must have a lot of faith in her. And that’s a lot of faith to have in a Luthor.”
“Yes it is. And you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
“Yeah. I’d rather have you any way that keeps you here and mine. Took you long enough to figure this out.” At this, Esca takes Marcus’s hand to take him out to the fields.
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With the solstice, summer officially arrives but still no word of Tess. Yet, Marcus holds out hope for her life even as Esca starts researching state and county laws on adverse possession.
But, just as her disappearance was a mysterious non-issue to not talk about, so is her post at The Daily Planet as the newspaper’s Editor in Chief at the end of the summer.
One evening, Marcus and Esca curl up on the sofa with Metropolis’s premiere newspaper as Cub lay splayed out on a sofa pillow napping.
“She seems to be settling down as The Daily Planet’s editor,” Esca comments.
“Please.” Marcus huffs. “There is no settling down with her. There is only bringing things up, including the newspaper’s reputation and reach. She’s always on to the big thing, always after her destiny.”
“We should invite Cottia over. I’m sure she’d have lots to say about The Daily Planet’s Editor in Chief and Luthor Corp.’s CEO being the same person.”
“But then I’d point out Ms. Mercer’s editorial about The Blur and the plea for their privacy so long as The Blur doesn’t commit crimes or destroy property.”
“Are you sure Clark is the Blur? Clark likes to wear red and blue, not black.”
“I’m sure. I know that strength. But mostly, the heat vision. I guess he’s not scared of using that anymore.”
Over the winter and spring, Marcus and Esca’s habits with the news evolve. Local news broadcasts and newspapers once made Marcus and Esca squirm occasionally with quiet and factual-toned yet blaming reporting on the town’s meteor-infected people but otherwise were familiar and comforting as an old blanket.
But Gordon Godfrey’s anti-hero rhetoric spreads across the Metropolis. “He’s just some nobody radio DJ trying to get into everyone’s radio and TV. Everyone’ll see him for the zealot he is,” Esca tries to assure himself and Marcus. But they lose some hope when Godfrey’s reach extends past Metropolis, and his book becomes word on what to think about vigilantes and, by extension, super-powered humans. And Smallville’s townsfolk in particular adopt some of the more venomous rhetoric, bit by bit, Marcus and Esca stop buying local papers and stop tuning into local broadcasts. By the time the Vigilante Registration Act passes in November, The Daily Planet is their only source of news yet this doesn’t stop them from hearing the townsfolk want the VRA expanded to cover other “freaks.”
So they cling to The Daily Planet as their lifeline until one day in February when the entire newspaper is awash with pro-VRA articles - even the one whose byline is Lois Lane.
Marcus and Esca hug each other as tight as they can. Marcus kisses the top of Esca’s head and wonders, “Maybe we were asking for too much to want to be normal.”
“No.” Esca grips tighter. “We’ve done nothing wrong. If we have to demand fair treatment, then so be it as the only fair thing to do.”
BEEP BEEP!
Marcus looks down at the unfamiliar number on his phone’s caller ID yet recognizes the Metropolis area code and answers anyway.
“Hello?”
“Marcus! Yes! It’s you!”
“Ms. Mercer! Where are you!? What’s going on!? You’d never let that print - especially not that Lois Lane impostor.”
“I just got out of Summerholt to get something to tie loose ends. I’m at a pay phone somewhere at the edge of Metropolis. And it’s . . . complicated.”
“I’m a good lie detector. You said so. Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s Lionel Luthor. And he’s after his son, or a clone of his son.”
Marcus blinks. Whatever the truth, Tess certainly believed what she said. “Okay . . .”
“The official story is that he faked his death but he’s really from an alternate world.”
“Not the explanation I expected. But okay . . .”
“At worst, you and Esca over there have his attention and he will come after you here.”
“Okay . . . Great . . . Not.”
“But there’s a chance that he had no clue for you over there. But just in case. I’m going to lock one of Oliver Queen’s satellites on you. You know what to do right?”
“Do nothing. But what about you?”
“I secure-wiped everything about the farm from Luthor Corp.’s servers years ago - everything from hard drives to backups to backups of backups. And - at the moment - the farm belongs to a government agency.”
“What? . . .”
“The flowers, Marcus.”
“The flowers! I can take care of the flowers!”
“Stress the plants and stress them as hard as you can.”
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A season passes. There are days when Marcus and Esca relax with the absence of unannounced visitors and Cub goes on with his antics such as trying to climb the baby fence at the pantry or trying to jump onto the sofa. And then there are days when the waiting for such visitors casts its own gloom and Marcus and Esca cuddle and cling to each other on the sofa as Cub tries to burrow into their arms.
But one morning, Marcus and Esca feel the stir in the sky and sense something coming from high above.
“This isn’t just us, is it?” Marcus asks Esca who shakes his head no and Marcus follows up asking, “So what do you want us to do?”
“I want . . .” Esca reaches for Marcus’s hands. Surely, Marcus can feel the heart pounding against the ribcage. But what does Marcus feel of paralysis? “I want us, on this land, working together.”
And as the day passes, the sky slowly turns from a bright and cool blue to a burning orange shadow and by noon, they’ve dismissed all the farmhands.
Esca turns up to Marcus. “Is it too late to turn the house into a home? Let’s work on that together.”
Smiling at Esca, Marcus holds hands with him and together they walk back together.
They’re in the kitchen baking and letting Cub munch away at doggie treats after forbidding him from the honey when they hear a screech from the driveway followed by heels clicking on the hardwood floors.
“Ms. Mercer!” Marcus takes his attention off the stand mixer.
“You! In the greenhouse now! Press all the berries! Distill all the leaves! Now!”
Once alone, Tess pulls a letter-sized envelope from inside her coat and hands it to Esca who opens it to reveal the deed to the land with both his and Marcus’s names and papers of sale, from an Icarus Corp. to them.
“All yours.”
“Ms. Mercer!” Esca yells after Tess as she makes her way to the greenhouse. “I forgot to thank you for saving Marcus’s life . . . that afternoon when you held his hand in the hospital.”
“Don’t worry.” Tess winks. “Marcus hasn’t either. But I suppose I should thank him for making me save Clark. Or maybe I should thank you for constantly reminding me? But you knew how much I’d owe him for the influence Clark’s had on my life, didn’t you?”
Esca nods. “I had to. Marcus had that faith in Clark.”
“I get it. Now take the land. It’s yours - free and clear.”
Inside the greenhouse, Tess examines the plants. A third of them are already dead and another third are struggling. But a third of them might be enough and Marcus has already pressed 10mL of juice from one small cluster of green berries. And the distiller is slowly separating oil from water and it looks to be no more than a few mL.
“The juice and oil are going to be more concentrated than last year’s but the yields are much smaller.” Marcus stares intently at the distiller.
“It’s fine,” Tess says as she pulls out a small vial, half-filled with a dark black liquid and begins to fill it the rest of it with the extracts from the leaves.
“What’s that?” Marcus eyes the vial.
“I deleted all records of this farm from Luthor Corp. This vial is to tie loose ends.”
“I see . . .” Marcus nods. “The extracts from your leaves . . . Triple the heart rate, triple the delivery rate?”
“Exactly. And juice from the berries is so that he doesn’t feel the effects on his heart.” Tess puts a hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “If he isn’t already, Lionel Luther will probably die . . . So Lex can live.”
“Lex!”
“You see why I have to do this.”
“But what will happen to you?” Marcus grips Tess’s hand. “You can’t go.”
“Marcus.” Tess pulls out a small lead box from her jacket’s inside pocket. Inside is a large, green, meteor rock ring which she puts onto Marcus’s ring finger where it glows brighter. Slipping her hands into his, he nods yes as he takes off her gloves and lets her take his hands.
His knees buckle, but that’s the only movement he can make. Tess pulls him closer and she runs her hands to his neck, to his cheeks. Their eyes are level, and he looks straight into her eyes as he shakes his head no. Yet she pulls him in so they touch cheek-to-cheek. Finally she whispers, “You have to let me go.”
She pulls back for one more look at Marcus who still shakes his head no before she goes back in for a kiss.
At the touch of their lips, Marcus feels the heart beat slower, yet harder. It’s the only thing he feels, the only thing his body does even if involuntarily. When Tess pulls away, he locks eyes with her as she lowers him down onto the ground.
“A quiet destiny is still a destiny.” Tess caresses Marcus’s cheek one more time and lifts up his hand with the ring and kisses the ring. “Let me go, and I promise you a man will fly.”
After she leaves, Cub stands outside yelping. When he starts howling, Esca rushes from the kitchen and into the greenhouse.
“Marcus!” Esca rushes over to Marcus and slips off the ring. “Are you okay?”
“You know . . .” Marcus looks at the ceiling of glass panes above him. “When we go hunting, there’s that moment when the animal knows it’s going to die. And that’s how she’s going in.”
On the ground holding hands, they linger there for a while looking up at the sky. Maybe they wait for Marcus’s control to return and his heart to return to normal. Maybe they wait for the burning planet to crash down.
Then, a text comes in from Cottia:
TURN ON TV NOW! MAN IN BLUE SUIT RED CAPE PUSHING PLANET AWAY
“So . . . Clark isn’t scared of heights anymore?” Marcus wonders from the greenhouse floor. From these mysterious flowering shrubs to the sky, is that what everything in this greenhouse has been for?
“Well. He’s up there isn’t he?”
“Can you see him Esca?”
“No. My eyes are great but not that great. But we can see the planet moving away.”
“And that’s good enough.”
“Is it? Didn’t you want to redeem your father’s reputation? Wouldn’t this help if people knew about you and Ms. Mercer?”
Tess. I hope - somehow, someway, someday - you can see this. You will be proud.
“Doesn’t matter.” Marcus squeezes Esca’s hand; if only Esca could feel his contentment. “You know. And you’re all that matters.”
The Just Destiny of Fools
Summary: Smallville AU. Marcus is captivated by a visiting Luthor Corp. executive and her talk of Destiny. But is her not being a Luthor enough reason to trust her? And is Esca pulling Marcus way from or pushing him towards her?
Pairings: Marcus / Esca, Marcus / Tess. If you squint hard: Marcus / Placidus (aka Sid) and Esca / Liathan in their pasts.
Spoilers: Smallville seasons 4 - 10.
Word Count: 27.1 k.
Rating: Teen or PG-13.
Notes
Starts at Smallville season 4 where they are high school seniors and goes from there. The Seal Prince, I’ve given him the name Liathan from the book. As for Placidus, I renamed him Sid to sound more contemporary and modern.
[Warnings:]
Warnings
Rated for disability, ableism, kidnappings, dub-con and non-con sexual battery, D / s dynamics, sub drops, discussions of rape, self harm.
Tess x Marcus: No sex but psychologically D / s.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the ever loving sistermine for being the ever patient beta reader through many drafts, and imera for the beautiful cover.
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- EPUB download (0.5MB)
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Chapter 5
Later that evening, Marcus lies on the couch, looks up at the ceiling, and says, “I’m a failure - just like my father.”
“You’re not like your father.” Esca brings over water and beef jerky and pumpkin pie to the end table by the couch.
“Right. Dad gave up in the face of Luthors. I submit to them. Two totally different things.”
“You don’t submit to them.” Esca spreads a blanket over Marcus. “Only one of them. And besides - ”
“A Luthor who’s not really a Luthor. That’s how you try to make me feel better?”
“Maybe you need to find the right person to submit to.” Esca settles himself on top of Marcus, cheeks resting on Marcus’s chest.
“Maybe.” Marcus begins to wrap his arms around Esca but then moves a hand up to Esca’s cheek and the other down to Esca’s hand. Pins and needles zing through his legs, he begins to feel warmer, and his heart beats stronger. He nudges Esca so he can look into his eyes blowing wide. “Now?”
“Stay!” Esca pushes Marcus back down.
“But you’re - ”
“Rest!” Esca pins down Marcus. Then, leaning in closer, he whispers, “Oh yes I am right now. But don’t worry. Tomorrow, I’ll test you - thoroughly test you.”
Breathe, Marcus tells himself. Breathe
“Tomorrow will be a test. Tomorrow night will be another test.”
“Tonight?”
“Your rest is your preparation is your first test.”
“Ah.” Marcus settles into the couch and closes his eyes as Esca settles onto him again. So. More stress means more bitter, more savory, and more sweet.
❀
“Tell me again how Checkmate won’t hurt Clark?” Marcus asks Tess as he tills a pot’s soil. “So you spied on Lex for them. But the enemy of my enemy could still be my enemy.”
“I’m sure Martha would never allow anyone to hurt her son.”
“Wait? Mrs. Kent?”
“She’s quite the player in Washington DC now.”
“Is that why you’re telling me this? Because of her? I doubt your boss - Amanda Waller, right? - agrees. And she’s your boss only at Checkmate, right?”
“Yes, she has no authority over what I do at The Daily Planet nor at Luthor Corp. And yes, Amanda and Martha don’t see eye to eye on everything. But we all agree that aliens and super-powered humans are especially destructive. Which is why you steer clear of meteor-infected people and shape shifters and other such beings, right?”
“Esca and I steer clear of most people.” Marcus looks out the greenhouse and notes the darkening sky; the days growing longer should make everything feel brighter bit by bit. “We’re not all dangerous; they know that right? Seriously, that agency you work for sounds full of people bigoted against people like me.”
“Martha and I are aware of that, yes. Though, everyone has different ideas. But I’ll see how that plays out. People will make moves and people will get in each others’ way. If I see a good opportunity . . .”
“Why do you get to make moves and not I?”
“When you have power, you give yourself permission.”
“I thought it goes, ‘When you have power, you don’t need permission.’ ”
“But if you don’t give yourself permission, then who will?”
“ . . . Oh . . .”
“I used to be like you - powerless. In due time, you’ll figure out your own power.”
“I already do.”
“Not your abilities. Your power - the world doing your will.”
“That’ll never happen.”
“You got me onto Clark’s side.”
“Doing shady things.”
“If it weren’t for you - and this is before Martha joined Checkmate - I would have been more suspicious of him. I made a deal with you, you countered with your own deal. So. If you’re ever ready. I’d take you on as a protégé. Or maybe not you. Maybe Lois Lane.”
“Please. After what she did to my uncle’s dog’s tail - and she ran over Clark’s dog! - Esca and I hug Cub tightly every time we see her.”
Tess laughs.
❀
By the time a put-put ambles up the driveway, the slow cooker still hasn’t been emptied out into a serving bowl - instead, it’s been set to warm.
“The tractor parts’ll arrive - ” Esca cuts himself short at the sight of Marcus in the middle of the living room, taking off his shirt, muscles flexing and tightening and eyes blown wide. “You. Bed. Face down. Now!”
Afterwards - after they’re exhausted and collapsed on the bed - Esca manages to mumble out, “This . . . is different.”
“Besides you, I don’t think I’ve ever thought anyone thought of me as sexy.”
“And you wonder why I thought it was a bad idea for you to date Sid.”
“Hm. I thought he and I could bond over being meteor-infected.”
“As much as I loved seeing you shoot him down every time he opened his mouth, he said a lot of awful things about you. I never liked hearing him call you ‘cripple’ or ‘liability.’ How dare he blame you for his own insecurities.”
“So: While I was waiting for you to come home, I realized a few things. If I never believed Sid, then why did I act like it? All this not being around people or dressed in bulky layers when I am. I’ve never tried to be sexy.”
“Why try now?”
“Maybe I’m slow to figure things out?”
Esca rolls his eyes.
“Just trying to figure out how much of it I can control.”
“And?”
“Do you like?”
Esca eyes Marcus’s body up and down and back up again. “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind eye candy around the farm.”
“Well then, I got what I wanted.”
❀
The summer and most of the spring pass uneventfully until late May when Tess comes by. A colder and more stressful winter has made the plants come out of dormancy earlier than normal and a few plants already have green berries a few weeks early and with slightly higher then normal concentrations of alkaloids.
“Good job,” Tess praises a beaming Marcus standing beside her. “I trust you’ll continue on without direction from me?”
“Where are you going?” Marcus frowns.
“I need to be as flexible as possible. But I’ll email you an itinerary to the Arctic Circle.”
“Lex disappeared there.”
“This has nothing to do with Lex.”
“Then for?”
“Fate or destiny. If I can help it, destiny.”
“Zod. You have to let me do something.”
“And that something is staying here. I can’t lose you. I’ve lost Oliver and Clark - ”
“You worked with Zod.”
“And I’ve lost Zod.”
“You never had him. Not when your first encounter with him was his beating you.”
“And you? Do I still have you?”
“Between Zod and Checkmate you’ve been acting Luthor-esque lately with all your power grabs. You said you wouldn’t hurt Clark, but you work with those you wouldn’t trust with Clark.”
“I wanted him to achieve his destiny.”
“So you bind him to his fate?”
“Marcus. Why are you still here?”
“Because I want to stay a farmer and to keep Esca. But I told you: As long as you remember you’re not a Luthor, you’ll have my willing faith and loyalty.”
With one hand, Tess reaches for Marcus’s cheek and her other hand reaches for Marcus’s hand and Marcus steps in closer to Tess.
“Marcus. I will go to the Arctic Circle. And I will prove to you everything you want - my loyalty to Clark, and that I am not a Luthor.”
“But Zod . . .”
“Stay here. And if I die and stay dead, consider that your release from me and your nothingness.”
As Tess leaves the greenhouse and Marcus follows, they meet Esca with Cub on a leash. Esca lets Tess pass by to go on through the house but he pulls Marcus back, keeping Marcus with him between the greenhouse and the house.
“I heard all that,” Esca says. “So if she dies, we lose the farm? Or you leave?”
“She won’t die.”
“And you are so sure?”
“For every enemy who wants her dead, there is another enemy who wants her alive.”
“To believe the latter, you must have a lot of faith in her. And that’s a lot of faith to have in a Luthor.”
“Yes it is. And you wouldn’t have me any other way.”
“Yeah. I’d rather have you any way that keeps you here and mine. Took you long enough to figure this out.” At this, Esca takes Marcus’s hand to take him out to the fields.
❀
With the solstice, summer officially arrives but still no word of Tess. Yet, Marcus holds out hope for her life even as Esca starts researching state and county laws on adverse possession.
But, just as her disappearance was a mysterious non-issue to not talk about, so is her post at The Daily Planet as the newspaper’s Editor in Chief at the end of the summer.
One evening, Marcus and Esca curl up on the sofa with Metropolis’s premiere newspaper as Cub lay splayed out on a sofa pillow napping.
“She seems to be settling down as The Daily Planet’s editor,” Esca comments.
“Please.” Marcus huffs. “There is no settling down with her. There is only bringing things up, including the newspaper’s reputation and reach. She’s always on to the big thing, always after her destiny.”
“We should invite Cottia over. I’m sure she’d have lots to say about The Daily Planet’s Editor in Chief and Luthor Corp.’s CEO being the same person.”
“But then I’d point out Ms. Mercer’s editorial about The Blur and the plea for their privacy so long as The Blur doesn’t commit crimes or destroy property.”
“Are you sure Clark is the Blur? Clark likes to wear red and blue, not black.”
“I’m sure. I know that strength. But mostly, the heat vision. I guess he’s not scared of using that anymore.”
Over the winter and spring, Marcus and Esca’s habits with the news evolve. Local news broadcasts and newspapers once made Marcus and Esca squirm occasionally with quiet and factual-toned yet blaming reporting on the town’s meteor-infected people but otherwise were familiar and comforting as an old blanket.
But Gordon Godfrey’s anti-hero rhetoric spreads across the Metropolis. “He’s just some nobody radio DJ trying to get into everyone’s radio and TV. Everyone’ll see him for the zealot he is,” Esca tries to assure himself and Marcus. But they lose some hope when Godfrey’s reach extends past Metropolis, and his book becomes word on what to think about vigilantes and, by extension, super-powered humans. And Smallville’s townsfolk in particular adopt some of the more venomous rhetoric, bit by bit, Marcus and Esca stop buying local papers and stop tuning into local broadcasts. By the time the Vigilante Registration Act passes in November, The Daily Planet is their only source of news yet this doesn’t stop them from hearing the townsfolk want the VRA expanded to cover other “freaks.”
So they cling to The Daily Planet as their lifeline until one day in February when the entire newspaper is awash with pro-VRA articles - even the one whose byline is Lois Lane.
Marcus and Esca hug each other as tight as they can. Marcus kisses the top of Esca’s head and wonders, “Maybe we were asking for too much to want to be normal.”
“No.” Esca grips tighter. “We’ve done nothing wrong. If we have to demand fair treatment, then so be it as the only fair thing to do.”
BEEP BEEP!
Marcus looks down at the unfamiliar number on his phone’s caller ID yet recognizes the Metropolis area code and answers anyway.
“Hello?”
“Marcus! Yes! It’s you!”
“Ms. Mercer! Where are you!? What’s going on!? You’d never let that print - especially not that Lois Lane impostor.”
“I just got out of Summerholt to get something to tie loose ends. I’m at a pay phone somewhere at the edge of Metropolis. And it’s . . . complicated.”
“I’m a good lie detector. You said so. Don’t lie to me.”
“It’s Lionel Luthor. And he’s after his son, or a clone of his son.”
Marcus blinks. Whatever the truth, Tess certainly believed what she said. “Okay . . .”
“The official story is that he faked his death but he’s really from an alternate world.”
“Not the explanation I expected. But okay . . .”
“At worst, you and Esca over there have his attention and he will come after you here.”
“Okay . . . Great . . . Not.”
“But there’s a chance that he had no clue for you over there. But just in case. I’m going to lock one of Oliver Queen’s satellites on you. You know what to do right?”
“Do nothing. But what about you?”
“I secure-wiped everything about the farm from Luthor Corp.’s servers years ago - everything from hard drives to backups to backups of backups. And - at the moment - the farm belongs to a government agency.”
“What? . . .”
“The flowers, Marcus.”
“The flowers! I can take care of the flowers!”
“Stress the plants and stress them as hard as you can.”
❀
A season passes. There are days when Marcus and Esca relax with the absence of unannounced visitors and Cub goes on with his antics such as trying to climb the baby fence at the pantry or trying to jump onto the sofa. And then there are days when the waiting for such visitors casts its own gloom and Marcus and Esca cuddle and cling to each other on the sofa as Cub tries to burrow into their arms.
But one morning, Marcus and Esca feel the stir in the sky and sense something coming from high above.
“This isn’t just us, is it?” Marcus asks Esca who shakes his head no and Marcus follows up asking, “So what do you want us to do?”
“I want . . .” Esca reaches for Marcus’s hands. Surely, Marcus can feel the heart pounding against the ribcage. But what does Marcus feel of paralysis? “I want us, on this land, working together.”
And as the day passes, the sky slowly turns from a bright and cool blue to a burning orange shadow and by noon, they’ve dismissed all the farmhands.
Esca turns up to Marcus. “Is it too late to turn the house into a home? Let’s work on that together.”
Smiling at Esca, Marcus holds hands with him and together they walk back together.
They’re in the kitchen baking and letting Cub munch away at doggie treats after forbidding him from the honey when they hear a screech from the driveway followed by heels clicking on the hardwood floors.
“Ms. Mercer!” Marcus takes his attention off the stand mixer.
“You! In the greenhouse now! Press all the berries! Distill all the leaves! Now!”
Once alone, Tess pulls a letter-sized envelope from inside her coat and hands it to Esca who opens it to reveal the deed to the land with both his and Marcus’s names and papers of sale, from an Icarus Corp. to them.
“All yours.”
“Ms. Mercer!” Esca yells after Tess as she makes her way to the greenhouse. “I forgot to thank you for saving Marcus’s life . . . that afternoon when you held his hand in the hospital.”
“Don’t worry.” Tess winks. “Marcus hasn’t either. But I suppose I should thank him for making me save Clark. Or maybe I should thank you for constantly reminding me? But you knew how much I’d owe him for the influence Clark’s had on my life, didn’t you?”
Esca nods. “I had to. Marcus had that faith in Clark.”
“I get it. Now take the land. It’s yours - free and clear.”
Inside the greenhouse, Tess examines the plants. A third of them are already dead and another third are struggling. But a third of them might be enough and Marcus has already pressed 10mL of juice from one small cluster of green berries. And the distiller is slowly separating oil from water and it looks to be no more than a few mL.
“The juice and oil are going to be more concentrated than last year’s but the yields are much smaller.” Marcus stares intently at the distiller.
“It’s fine,” Tess says as she pulls out a small vial, half-filled with a dark black liquid and begins to fill it the rest of it with the extracts from the leaves.
“What’s that?” Marcus eyes the vial.
“I deleted all records of this farm from Luthor Corp. This vial is to tie loose ends.”
“I see . . .” Marcus nods. “The extracts from your leaves . . . Triple the heart rate, triple the delivery rate?”
“Exactly. And juice from the berries is so that he doesn’t feel the effects on his heart.” Tess puts a hand on Marcus’s shoulder. “If he isn’t already, Lionel Luther will probably die . . . So Lex can live.”
“Lex!”
“You see why I have to do this.”
“But what will happen to you?” Marcus grips Tess’s hand. “You can’t go.”
“Marcus.” Tess pulls out a small lead box from her jacket’s inside pocket. Inside is a large, green, meteor rock ring which she puts onto Marcus’s ring finger where it glows brighter. Slipping her hands into his, he nods yes as he takes off her gloves and lets her take his hands.
His knees buckle, but that’s the only movement he can make. Tess pulls him closer and she runs her hands to his neck, to his cheeks. Their eyes are level, and he looks straight into her eyes as he shakes his head no. Yet she pulls him in so they touch cheek-to-cheek. Finally she whispers, “You have to let me go.”
She pulls back for one more look at Marcus who still shakes his head no before she goes back in for a kiss.
At the touch of their lips, Marcus feels the heart beat slower, yet harder. It’s the only thing he feels, the only thing his body does even if involuntarily. When Tess pulls away, he locks eyes with her as she lowers him down onto the ground.
“A quiet destiny is still a destiny.” Tess caresses Marcus’s cheek one more time and lifts up his hand with the ring and kisses the ring. “Let me go, and I promise you a man will fly.”
After she leaves, Cub stands outside yelping. When he starts howling, Esca rushes from the kitchen and into the greenhouse.
“Marcus!” Esca rushes over to Marcus and slips off the ring. “Are you okay?”
“You know . . .” Marcus looks at the ceiling of glass panes above him. “When we go hunting, there’s that moment when the animal knows it’s going to die. And that’s how she’s going in.”
On the ground holding hands, they linger there for a while looking up at the sky. Maybe they wait for Marcus’s control to return and his heart to return to normal. Maybe they wait for the burning planet to crash down.
Then, a text comes in from Cottia:
TURN ON TV NOW! MAN IN BLUE SUIT RED CAPE PUSHING PLANET AWAY
“So . . . Clark isn’t scared of heights anymore?” Marcus wonders from the greenhouse floor. From these mysterious flowering shrubs to the sky, is that what everything in this greenhouse has been for?
“Well. He’s up there isn’t he?”
“Can you see him Esca?”
“No. My eyes are great but not that great. But we can see the planet moving away.”
“And that’s good enough.”
“Is it? Didn’t you want to redeem your father’s reputation? Wouldn’t this help if people knew about you and Ms. Mercer?”
Tess. I hope - somehow, someway, someday - you can see this. You will be proud.
“Doesn’t matter.” Marcus squeezes Esca’s hand; if only Esca could feel his contentment. “You know. And you’re all that matters.”