Quicksand 7/13
Title: Quicksand
Authors: herohunter and ladydreamer
Pairing: Clex
Rating: Generally PG, and NC-17 in parts
Warning: mpreg
Summary: One cold November evening, twelve years after Lex Luthor left Smallville and Clark Kent behind, the two meet in Centennial Park… as Lex is walking home with his daughter.
Thanks to our beta lexalicious, and to lapetite-kiki for the beautiful cover for the fic.
Part Seven
Clark finished typing his article on the latest Metropolis anti-pollution measures and hit 'save' and 'print.' He sat back in his chair and swayed it from side to side leisurely as the printer did its part.
Lois sauntered over and sat on his desk, leaning over a pile of folders that Clark had been trying to get to and knocking over a snow globe with a little Superman in it that Cat Grant had given him for the Secret Santa last year. "Busy, Smallville?"
"Careful, Lois," Clark told her, standing up to pick up the snow globe, then pretending to trip, and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he straightened. "I just finished today's article. You?" He set the globe carefully back on his desk.
"Finished this morning," she replied breezily. "City council meetings don't exactly turn me on. I hear through the grapevine that they've picked up another freak at central booking." Lois pulled out a folder and looked through it. "They're coming out of the woodwork, lately. Not from around here, either."
"Metahumans," corrected Clark, going around his desk again. "I can't figure it out; they just show up from God knows where, disoriented..."
"And start busting up whatever they can find," Lois said dryly. "I don't know. The 'metahumans' are your beat, though, so I thought I'd pass it along." She pointed the folder at him.
"Thanks." Clark sat back down and opened the folder, looking through the information. "They seem to behave violently, which causes them to be thrown in Belle Reve, or killed on sight."
"I'm not sure what they expect to happen." Lois stood and shifted her weight to one hip. "The cops will get them, if they can, and if they can't Superman is here. You'd have to have been underground in a hole for the past ten years to not know that."
Clark's eyes narrowed. "Yeah..." That was an idea.
Just then, Lex walked in, carrying a small gray cooler. He gave Clark a little wave.
Clark's face lit up in a wide smile. He put down the folder and walked around the desk to meet Lex. "Hey, there!"
"Hey there." Lex approached him with a loose-hipped gate and gave Clark a hug. Over Clark's shoulder he could see Lois' eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Clark closed his eyes briefly as he took in Lex's scent, then opened them again and gave Lex's lips a kiss. "Right on time. I just finished today's text."
"Excellent. I missed you. Has Athena given you her daily call yet?" Lex asked with amusement. He gave Clark another kiss. Lois' eyes went very round.
"She sure did, said she's looking forward to movie night, and that she already knows what movie we're watching. I'm marginally concerned." Clark chuckled. He wrapped one arm around Lex's shoulders, got the cooler from Lex and turned to set it on the table. "Just let me take the article to the proofreader and we can have lunch." He looked at Lois. "This is Lois Lane, my colleague," he told Lex.
Lois leaned forward to shake Lex's hand. "It's good to meet you. Clark has said absolutely nothing about you."
"Make sense. Considering he works with a pack of reporters," Lex shot back, squeezing her hand firmly. He let go and sat in Clark's desk chair.
"I'm Lois Lane. I'm more interested in Superman stories than gossip for the society page," Lois quipped, cocking her head to the side. "Besides, Metropolis doesn't care who Clark is dating."
"No? Well, that's good." Lex smirked.
When Lex didn't appear to be giving up any information, Lois sighed and asked, "What's your name?"
"You can call me Lexie."
Clark ducked his head and suppressed a snicker. "We live together," he volunteered as he walked the three steps to the printer and collected his article. The proofreader never had to correct any of his work, but it was the guy's job, and Clark didn't mind following the chain of command.
"For how long?" Lois asked.
"How long have you had that smashing skirted suit?" Lex asked in return.
"How does that matter?" Lois shot back in irritation.
"How does it matter to you how long we've been living together?" Lex suppressed a chuckle. This one was fun to rile up.
Clark grinned; he knew that Lex could hold his own like a pro around press, especially one that hadn't recognized him yet. "Be right back, pumpkin," he told Lex with a wink.
Lex lifted his brow at the term "pumpkin," but didn't stop smiling. "Okay, sugar muff."
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Lois asked, crossing her arms.
"It's possible. It's a crazy world," Lex replied.
Lois shook her head and walked back to her desk. Amused, Lex started to look over Clark's desk, which needed organizing. It took all that was in him to not start sorting the papers.
Clark returned to his desk, sighing because Lex was there, being all mysterious and being his. "You look really cute there," he said softly, leaning over his desk so only Lex would hear him.
"I'm cute? I thought I was being nosy." Lex smiled mischievously, touching the snow globe with his middle finger. "Where did you get this?"
"Christmas gift," Clark said. "Secret Santa from a co-worker."
Lex picked it up and swished it around, looking at the little Superman inside as he put his hands on his hips proudly and soared through the snowy Metropolis skyline. "I bet he saves teeny little cats." Lex set it down and looked Clark in the eye. "Where do you want to eat? I brought you that soup I was talking about, sandwiches, and some fruit salad. And a cookie." He winked.
"Hm, a cookie!" Clark picked up the cooler and offered Lex a hand. "We could go to the park or downstairs, to the break room."
"Let's go to the park." Lex took his hand and wrapped his arm around Clark's waist. "We can chat without people listening in."
Clark nodded. "See you later, Lois!" he said over his shoulder.
Lois waved two fingers without looking away from her computer. "See ya, Smallville."
"Found any interesting stories lately?" Lex asked.
"Yeah, actually. Every so often, a metahuman pops up and makes a mess in the city. They get locked up or shot, and nobody knows where they're coming from, just that they're aggressive and not cooperative." Clark walked to the elevator with Lex.
"And they won't say where they came from? I'd think the police would be able to find a past history prior to their appearance in Metropolis," Lex mused. The elevator door closed and Lex let his hand trail down the front of Clark's pants.
"Uh..." Clark licked his lips and shook his head. "They're never coherent enough to tell enough before they're drugged or hurt."
"It might be a good idea to run their prints, see if they've had any previous arrests. The police must not recognize it as a pattern," Lex said thoughtfully. His hand rested on Clark's crotch.
"Lex," Clark muttered in a warning tone. "You know what you do to me, don't you?"
"Oh, yes." Lex smiled up at him smugly then slipped his hands into his pockets.
Clark pressed his lips together and took a deep breath. "Evil. Now I'm gonna be horny the rest of the day."
"Then you'll be perfectly percolated for me when you get home," Lex teased.
"I want shower sex," Clark declared, touching the small of Lex's back as the elevator doors opened again. He lowered his hand to Lex's ass, gave it a little squeeze and moved it back up.
"Yes," Lex replied with a smile. They walked down the sidewalk together, and Lex didn't care if anyone saw them. "That sounds delicious."
Clark wrapped his arm around Lex's waist. "I love you."
"Love you too, sexy reporter." He reached up and touched the bridge of Clark's nerd glasses.
***
A few weeks later, Lex was sitting in the middle of the living room surrounded by photos of the metahumans who had been spotted over the course of the past year. He had a map taped to the wall with spots marked where each of the metahumans had been first spotted. Athena was with her grandparents for the weekend, and he missed her already, but there was nothing else to be cleaned, so he'd put himself to this problem, which had been bothering him incessantly. He had been off and on digging up all the information he could find on each of the metas.
Superman flew in through an open window and caught a couple of photos that his arrival stirred. "Wow," he said softly, his voice going back to Lex's. "You're pulling a Chloe on me, huh?"
"Am I? I'll have to go get a quirky hairdo," Lex replied. After a moment, he looked up from his papers. "How was patrol?"
"Fine. No yucky blobs this time, just the usual." He zipped off and returned a couple of seconds later, in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He told Lex about what happened out there, but not too much because some things were just too sad and too ugly, and he would rather not bring that into their home. "Did the daughter call?"
"Yes, and she said she'd call later, to try to catch you. She's going out for a ride on the horses," Lex informed him. He looked up and lifted his chin for a kiss.
Clark sat down next to Lex, cupped his face with one hand, and kissed him, eyes closed, heart several tons lighter now that he was home again. "Hmm, good. What have you found out?"
"Well, primarily that most of them were sighted near or around a subway entrance," Lex informed Clark.
"I've made a quick search around each area and found nothing... Do you think there might be lead lining somewhere underground?" Clark picked up a photograph of a girl who was able to create whirlwinds at will. She did not seem able to speak or communicate at all, however, and was now drooling in a padded cell in Belle Reve.
"There might be," Lex agreed. "And I would go visit to ask them... or pay a guard to break someone out long enough for the drugs to wear off and talk to them, but although the survivors were sent back to a high security mental institution, most of them aren't there now. And they haven't reported any escapes. They're disappearing just as mysteriously as they appeared."
Clark nodded slowly as he set the picture back down. "I should have spent more time on this." He looked at Lex with a regretful expression. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to..." Lex looked down at the pictures. "Question the staff at Belle Reve, for starters. Someone will have seen something. I need to get a map of the underground. See where they might be coming from."
"I have one of those at the Planet; I can go get it right now. Anything else?"
Lex covered his mouth. "That's all I can think of right now."
"All right, hang on." Clark gave Lex's lips a quick kiss and was gone.
Lex began organizing his pictures and profiles. He was very concerned that those people who had come out of the subways had been too disoriented to know what they were doing, and the police were too suspicious of metas to consider them innocent until proven guilty. Whoever had them, they were going to pay.
Clark returned with a couple of rolled up maps and a bag of Chinese food. "Chang was a little weirded out that I had no shoes on, but I got us food so we don't have to worry about that. Here are the maps."
"Thank you, Clark," Lex said appreciatively. He took the maps and spread them out on the floor, taking a deep breath, and frowned at them seriously. "Chang will get used to it. Did we get eggdrop soup?"
"Just for you. I've got the Lo Mein, but enough for two." Clark handed Lex the maps, set the bag down and turned towards the kitchen to get plates and silverware.
"Well, I like the Lo Mein..." Lex buried himself in studying the two maps in front of him. When his stomach growled, he remembered that he'd skipped lunch in order to look at more of the profiles that he'd gathered.
Clark brought a tray over and sat by Lex again. "The underground tunnels are a mess," he said as he poured Lex a glass of orange juice. "There are old closed off tunnels and some that got reused for the new subway system. I guess it wouldn't be a stretch for someone to have set up a secret facility down there. Since they're dealing with kryptonite mutants, they may found out about lead..."
'It would have been smart. Occasionally there are metahumans who tend to give off meteor radiation without meaning to," Lex replied. He took a sip of his juice. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Clark dished up for the two of them and crossed his legs Indian style as he ate and studied the way that Lex had organized the information before them. "That's true. Some of them make me feel sick and others, don't."
"Really?" Lex looked back at Clark and frowned, caressing Clark's chest a little. "I didn't know that." He sat back with Clark and took his own plate. "We could go down there and find out. Or do you think it would be better to question the staff first?"
Clark took a bite of his eggroll and shrugged. "Both? I can send someone to Belle Reve who can be really convincing at getting answers while you and I take a subway ride?" He knew that there was no way that Lex would sit this one out; he was just going to have to watch out for his accident-prone lover.
"Sounds like a plan." Lex took a sip of his eggdrop soup and sighed. "So good." He kissed Clark's cheek and patted his thigh. "I have a bullet proof vest in my bottom dresser drawer. Just in case."
"Good. I don't want you hurt; our daughter needs you." Clark would call Bruce later and ask Batman to take a trip to Belle Reve.
"She needs you, too," Lex insisted, although he knew she would be twice as devastated if something happened to him. It was simply because he had raised her, and Clark was new, but it was still there.
Clark smiled at Lex a little, chewing his food. "When do you wanna go?"
"After dinner? Or we could wait until the trains stop running. No one there to see us," Lex suggested.
"Definitely," agreed Clark. "I'll put Flash on alert for a distress call, though, and give you a communicator in case something happens and we need to be bailed out."
"Agreed." Lex lifted some Lo Mein to his lips and hmmed happily as he chewed.
"And we should wear black."
Lex swallowed. "I can get on board with that. You're hot in black."
Clark laughed. "Thanks. So are you, though I'm partial to naked myself..."
"Well, not naked in the tunnel..." Lex lifted his chopsticks to Clark's lips. "But maybe later on..."
"Hehe. We were told to enjoy our weekend, after all..." Clark stuck out his lower lip.
Lex pinched Clark's lower lip with his chopsticks and grinned.
"And we do have the whole apartment to ourselves..." Lex pointed out.
"M-hmm..."
Lex put some more in his mouth and chewed very slowly, then licked his lips.
Clark leaned in and licked Lex's lips as well. "Mmm, delicious."
"Yes." Lex pushed himself up on Clark's thigh and kissed him as though starving for Clark's affection. He could never get enough of this man.
Clark moved his plate aside and held Lex against him. Maybe a quick one before they went out...
***
It was late at night after the subway had stopped running, when Clark and Lex slipped into the system, dressed in black, and in Lex's case, Kevlar. Lex had a mag-light with him, and swept it around the area before they began to move in deeper. He knew they would have to rely on Clark's abilities more than Lex's own natural aptitude, but he hoped that he would be able to help. Twenty minutes later, they were traveling through the dark tunnels and waiting to find something.
"I can hear some critters crawling around," Clark told Lex, x-raying every wall as they moved along. "But no people yet."
"Hm." Lex nodded. A rat scurried over his foot, and he jumped back, then sighed at himself. "If she ever asks, no, Athena cannot have a gerbil."
Clark laughed softly, then wrapped one arm around Lex and floated the two of them a few inches off he ground. "I'll remember. The next abandoned tunnel is over there."
"I can see more accurately in the dark than most, but I don't think it's the same as what you see," Lex commented. He let his flashlight go back and forth over their path. "It's as good as daylight for you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is, but it took me a while to figure out this one. Now it's just a matter of focus." Clark paused in the air and wrinkled his nose. "Something died around here."
"Maybe the rats...?" Lex trailed off as he covered his nose. "Ugh. It gets worse as we go down. Clark?" Lex shone his light at the far end of the tunnel.
"I see it. A hole. Looks big enough for someone to squeeze through." Clark let Lex gently down and approached the hole. He squatted near the edge and looked down into it. "I can only see through the hole; I bet the walls are led-lined from that side."
"Guess so. Are we going down?" Lex asked, shining his light down.
Clark nodded. "I don't see another option." He reached over and broke a chunk of cement out, making the hole slightly bigger.
"Okay then." Lex peered over the hole to check for anything like a tentacle monster or giant praying mantis. Then he attached the flashlight to his belt and stuck a foot into the hole. "Hang onto me."
"You're not jumping in there," Clark told him, pulling Lex to his chest and slowly lowering them through the hole and looking around wearily. "Oh." He spotted a dead body a little further down the smaller tunnel below.
Lex pulled his flashlight and quickly looked for what Clark had seen. He blinked and leaned his head back. "Explains the smell. Do you think he... Or she was one of the escaping metas?"
Clark stopped breathing altogether, feeling guilty because Lex couldn't do the same. To his defense, he smelled much more than humans did. "What else would they be doing down here?" He floated them further up and shook his head. "There's another one there."
"Didn't make it," Lex muttered. "Well, I was going to say someone might be dumping bodies, but that seems unlikely. I wonder if, wherever they came from, they had a microchip placed in their brain to keep track of them. Then they went missing..."
"Why would someone be collecting metahumans like that? And who?" Clark asked, hesitating when they became face-to-face with another web of tunnels, but too narrow for subway cars. "Those are definitely lead-lined."
"Who? Good question. Why? Well, I know back in his day, my father had the tendency to collect people with abilities to future scientific experimentation. All in the hopes of making more money, of course," Lex informed Clark.
"God," Clark whispered. "And those poor people whose only fault was to be in Smallville when I arrived, or to have parents that did..." His heart tightened. Like Lex, like so many others...
"Don't blame yourself," Lex said seriously. He kissed Clark's jaw and found Clark's hand in the dark. "We're going to find them, and we're going to stop this."
Clark chose the tunnel to the right and moved along with Lex. "I hear something... A generator."
"Yeah? Clark, if we have... A collector, then they'll need a source of power down here." Lex pressed his lips together thoughtfully as they moved through the tunnel. "Individuals with abilities require more than your usual amount of measure for containment."
"A different kind of cell for each prisoner," Clark agreed. Further up, he tilted his head to the side. "Voices. Do you hear them?"
Lex tilted his head to the side as well and listened carefully. "No. No, I don't," he said quietly.
"Wait." Clark pulled Lex with him and stopped again when a light could be seen up ahead. "Now?"
"Okay, listening..." Lex paused and stayed completely still. Eventually he caught the sound of someone screaming, and there were also some voices chatting away. Guards, probably, or lab techs. Lex felt a twinge in his chest for whoever was being hurt inside there... And there was likely more than one person being harmed. Lex just couldn't hear everything that was going on. "They're here. We're right on the money."
Clark nodded. He tapped his left ear and whispered, "Stand by," then tapped it again. If he felt ill inside and was unable to keep himself and Lex from getting out, Flash would be there in no time, followed by Hawkgirl and Green Lantern. Clark wasn't taking any chances with people who were willing to imprison metahumans and keep them locked up until they went insane.
Lex turned his head to Clark and looked at the outline of his face. "What's our next move?"
Clark took a deep breath. "We bust in and take over?" He shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not willing to wait to return with the police and risk the prisoners having been moved or killed, you?"
Lex shrugged and nodded. He looked up at the light ahead, and reached around to the back of his belt and pulled out a gun. "Right. Where do we head in? Can you scan the place once we're closer?"
Clark x-rayed the door. It wasn't lead-lined like the tunnel walls. "Two guards, talking. They don't seem to concerned that anyone will come in or out. I see a row of three doors to each side, a couple of windows, and cell doors. It's a huge complex, Lex."
"Let's think about this." Lex swallowed pensively. "Taking out the guards should be fairly easy, if they're that relaxed. We should get inside, put on their uniforms, and take out anyone who could hurt those individuals by a remote or switch. You think? Find one person who can get us control of the facility."
"I'm sure there will be heavy tranquilizers in there," Clark added. "If there's no Green K near, I can enter one of the labs, get them, and that's something we can use on whoever is in there at this time. The metas might get agitated once they realize something's up, especially those with deteriorated mental states."
Lex nodded in agreement. "Once we get the place locked down, we can call someone to help transport them somewhere the can be properly taken care of."
"They're just waiting for my signal," Clark said with a sharp nod. "Or yours, if something happens." He turned to Lex, cupped his face and kissed him.
Lex kissed him in return and cupped Clark's ass. He never did this kind of thing anymore, but it was exciting. It reminded him of crawling around in the caves or saving those kids being held hostage in the plant, only there were more people to save. "I'm going to be fine, and so are you. Now let's take these assholes down."
"Yeah." Clark tapped his ear so that Flash could hear whatever happened, gave Lex another look, and headed for the metal door.
Ten minutes later, dressed in a stiff blue guard's uniform that was a bit big, Lex pistol-whipped the back of a man's head, then tied him up in the closet. He checked his locator and then touched his ear.
"Farmboy," he whispered. "I'm in the main control room. I'll shut down the exits and keep an eye on the patients."
"You got it, Maniac," Clark replied, reaching a large conference room at the very end of the complex and breaking down a door. "I'm almost done here," he said, stepping inside and freezing when he felt the nozzle of a gun being pressed to his temple.
"Hold it right there, asshole. Who the hell d'you think you are?" the man behind him demanded. He had dark brown hair and enormous furry eyebrows, and his angular jaw twitched tensely. "You don't come into my house and start breaking things down. I've got you, and I've called the guards. So put 'em up, chunk, and try not to wet yourself."
Clark turned his head very slowly until the gun was pressed against his forehead. "Your guards are down. What else you got?"
The man with the eyebrows scowled and pulled the trigger.
Clark jerked his head to the side to avoid the dark powder mark the crushed bullet would leave on his skin; Lex would freak out if he saw that. In the blink of an eye, he took the gun from the man, broke it in half, and placed his right hand, fingers splayed on the man's chest. He pushed until the man's back was against a wall and then he pushed only enough to make the man breathless for a moment. "You're the boss, huh? What's your name?"
"Wuh- whu-" The man stuttered. He grasped against the wall and looked over Clark with a mixture of horror and disgust. "Lucas! My name is Lucas."
"Lucas." Clark let Lucas breathe once and then pushed again. "Lucas what?"
"Luthor! Geezus, not so hard!" Lucas yelped.
Clark blinked and then blinked again, his eyes widening. He let Lucas go completely, walked around in a tight circle, and then his lips twisted as he looked at Lucas again.
"You're Rachel's son," he whispered, remembering that sweet confused lady who had ended up trying to kill Lex because Lionel had taken her son from her and put her in a mental institution.
"How the hell do you know that? Who are you?" His furry brows screwed together. He could have run, but he was too terrified. You couldn't let those freaks run around unrestrained.
Clark shook his head minutely, frowning. Oh, Lex was not gonna like this one little bit. "I met your mother once," he said sadly. "What are you doing here, keeping those people locked up like this?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "They need help, not torture!"
"They have to be controlled," Lucas informed him. "My father put me in charge before he died. We sell our findings to the highest bidder. Their lives are never going to mean anything! Might as well send the results on so that normal people can have better lives."
"God." Clark closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. Ah, the atrocities that men committed against one another. "Your father was a murderer and a monster," he muttered. He felt genuinely sad that Lex's half-brother had become one as well.
"My father was a practical man, and I play my best odds," Lucas replied disdainfully. "If this hadn't happened, you'd be in a cell with those freaks down there."
Clark caught himself grinning although no humor reached his eyes. "You think so? Well, guess who's gonna be put in a cell now..."
Lucas thinned his lips in a very Luthorish expression. "I've been in jail before. It's nothing big."
"Yeah? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't your practical man of a father die in a prison cell?" Clark moved to the large table in the room, crossed his arms and leaned back on it.
Lucas slipped his hands in his pockets and rolled his tongue around in his cheek. Then suddenly he bolted for the hallway.
Clark looked at the door. "No, really?" He did not even try to superspeed, but ran after Lucas at regular human speed. His legs were longer anyway. He caught the back of Lucas' shirt and then held him from behind with one arm, pinning his arms down in the process. "Aw, don't leave, Lucas. There's someone I want you to meet."
Lucas sighed heavily and hung there, sucking his cheeks in. "Fine. Show me your imaginary friend."
"I will." Clark kept Lucas where he was, against his side, and tapped his comm. "Where are you?" he asked Lex.
"Control room. I think it's in the middle, to the far left of where we entered? I've got an eye on all the metahumans, Farmboy. They look alright," Lex answered.
"Farmboy?" Lucas laughed.
"Shut up," Clark said roughly, lifting Lucas up a couple of inches and carrying him to where Lex was. "I found the man in charge," he told Lex. "Brace yourself."
"Consider me braced. Remember the girl who made the tornadoes? She's in a cell here. By herself, poor kid," Lex informed Clark as he waited for him.
"Oh, good!" Clark brightened up as he hauled Lucas' ass along. "I want to see her, talk to her. I like her." He found the door to the control room and walked inside, then switched off his comm.
Lex spun around in the chair and frowned at Lucas. "This is the guy in charge? I imagined someone... Old enough to drink."
"Watch it, baldshine," Lucas spat back.
Lex rolled his eyes. "So we contact the League and have him and the others put away?"
Clark gave Lucas a squeeze hard enough to make him squeak, then loosened his grip so Lucas could breathe again. "His name is Lucas Luthor," he said without preamble. Like ripping off a bandage, people said.
"He's the son of Rachel Dunlevy and Lionel." He watched Lex carefully.
Lex's brows went up first, then he opened his mouth slightly, feeling a little like he was going to be sick. "That can't be..."
"It is. Obviously. I'm here. What's it to you?" Lucas demanded.
"I'm Lex Luthor," Lex replied, pursing his lips. "I'm your older brother."
Lucas leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lex more closely, as though he didn't believe him and was scanning to see some trace of Lionel there. After a moment he groaned and looked up in annoyance.
"Lionel left him in charge," Clark explained rather unnecessarily. "And he just tried to bolt on me."
"I imagine that was immensely effective," Lex said dryly. "Tie him up." He shook his head and looked at Lucas coldly. "How could you do this? Even if my father told you to do this, surely you had something of your own telling you that using other people is essentially wrong?"
"I had a bad childhood," Lucas said, curling his lip slightly. "I bounced from foster family to foster family. Essentially raised myself. If I ever needed anything, I got it myself, and believe me, it's a survival of the fittest world out there, rich boy."
Lex lifted his chin and slit his eyes. "Lionel Luthor raised me at his knee, using the promise of his love as bait to get me to do whatever he wanted. He perpetually cut down my self-esteem, beat me when he was angry, and isolated me like any sociopath isolates his victims so they can torture them more. He enjoyed it, savored it. He enjoyed stringing me around. My mother didn't even love me, unless I moved to her exact specifications, and when my nanny seemed to give me the affection I craved, he threatened to hurt me and paid her to leave us. For years he punished me because he believed I killed my brother in his crib, when it was in fact my mother and I protected her to ensure that my father didn't have her killed. Then she died anyway." Lex's nostrils flared. "I'm not keeping people underground and experimenting on them."
Clark said nothing. He yanked a long piece of phone cord from the wall and tied Lucas's wrists together behind his back, then his ankles. During their friendship in Smallville, he had gotten most of that back history from Lex, but in small doses, almost careless comments here and there, but to hear it all spelled out in one big declaration... He would make sure to love Lex all night tonight, just cover him in kisses, caresses and loving words until Lex fell asleep... And for the rest of their lives, too.
Lucas stared at his brother with bitter eyes until Lex turned away from him and focused on the screens in front of him. "Call them in," he said quietly. "And let's wrap this night up." He let his head fall back so he could look at Clark. "Hell of a story, this one. Hell of a night."
Once Clark tied Lucas to a counter that was bolted to the floor, he walked up to Lex and hugged him back to chest, just holding him close. "I love you," he whispered.
Lex took a deep breath. "I love you too." He rested his head back on Clark's chest.
Clark hugged Lex across his chest and kissed up the side of his face. "He's seen me, and he'll connect me to you now, unlike the guards. I have to remedy that."
"Remedy that how?" Lex looked back at Clark curiously.
"I can make him forget my face, and return as Superman." Clark bit his lower lip. "You won't like the method, though."
Lex narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "It doesn't involve bashing his head in, does it?"
Clark chuckled. "No. It's called the Kiss of Lethe, actually."
"Kiss?" Lex repeated. "As in... kiss? On the lips?"
Clark nodded slowly. "But he won't remember, I promise."
"I'll remember," Lex pointed out. He sighed and shook his head. "Go ahead. It has to be done."
"I'll be quick," Clark promised, and gave Lex's lips a hard kiss before letting go. He turned and approached Lucas, then crouched down since Lucas was sitting on the floor, with his back to a wall.
Lucas pressed himself against the wall and glared at Clark. "What do you want, queer?"
"Nothing you'll miss," Clark told him, then pressed his lips to Lucas, hard enough that Lucas could not get away. He focused on the memories of him inside Lucas' mind, closed his eyes, and made them dissipate, like smoke meeting wind. When he was done, he drew back and before Lucas could open his eyes, Clark was gone.
Lucas stared at the back of Lex's head, and he frowned in confusion.
At the console, Lex smoothed his hands over the sides of his face with a sigh. He focused on the individuals before him. He didn't need to think more about that kiss than he had to. Although... He sort of wanted to ask Clark if he'd ever done it to him.
Superman came into the room seconds later, followed by Flash. The other Leaguers were not far behind. "That's him," he told Flash in his deep voice.
"Come on, eyebrows," Flash said after a moment, leaning down to help Lucas up. "You have some 'splaining to do!"
"Don't call me eyebrows, squirt," Lucas snapped at Flash.
Lex turned his head to get a look at the Leaguers. "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it," Green Lantern replied with a scowl. What a horrid, nightmarish place.
Flash eyed Lucas and pushed him at Hawkgirl. "Wanna give our badboy a ride to the precinct, Hawkgirl?"
"Oh, do I!" Hawkgirl grabbed Lucas and flew off with him. She'd give him the fright of his life with her stunts, and both she and Flash knew it.
Superman talked to Flash and Green Lantern about setting up another facility to help the metahumans in there, then walked over to Lex when the other two had left the room to take away the guards.
"Got business taken care of, Supes?" Lex asked, leaning back in the chair to look up at him. "I was wondering if I could get a ride home."
Superman's face fell, and it was Clark looking at Lex again. He brushed the knuckles of his right hand across Lex's cheek. "Yes, let's go home. They'll be taken care of; you've done enough."
"Good." Lex stood and walked by Clark's side and took his cue to lead him out of this desperate, terrible place. He needed to be home with his Clark, his partner, and take a long hot shower with him, to get his mind off of the image of what he could have become.
Once they were out in the wider tunnel, Clark wrapped his arms around Lex, pushed off the ground and slowly flew them up and out of there. Soon it was just the night air around them, and Clark wrapped his cape around Lex to keep him warm. He wanted to say he was sorry for so much, for Lex's father, mother, brother, and everything that had ever made Lex sad in his life, but he simply managed to give Lex's lips a kiss and then press their foreheads together.
***
Lex had uncharacteristically dragged a blanket out to the sofa when he'd woken groggily that morning, much later than he normally did. As soon as they'd returned home, Clark and Lex had gotten in the shower, cleaned off, and then Lex returned to the bedroom, pulled briefs and a t-shirt on, and crashed on the bed. The adrenaline of the evening had worn off, and he was exhausted.
Even now he yawned, and he reached over to the coffee table with his toes to change the channel on the television. He was hoping Clark wouldn't have to go out today.
Clark emerged from the kitchen with two mugs of steaming tea that he placed on the coffee table, but away from the reach of Lex's toes. He joined Lex on the sofa, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. "I made tea," he said, kissing Lex's temple and cheek.
"I see that, and smell that. Thank you. Hm." Lex curled his legs up underneath him and placed his hand on Clark's chest. He rubbed softly. "I need a better nickname for you than 'farmboy.'"
Clark chuckled. "I don't mind it. Lois calls me 'Smallville,' which would have been fine if she didn't mean it pejoratively. Jimmy calls me 'CK' and Flash, 'Supes.' I don't think I have any other nicknames, but if you want to give me one, I'm sure I'll love it." He covered Lex's hand with his and pressed his lips to Lex's once.
"I'll have to think about it." Lex snuggled into Clark's side and gave him several more kisses. He just wanted to be curled around Clark for hours and hours. "I don't mean it pejoratively. I mean it as 'my farmboy.'"
"Hmm, I know." Clark smiled softly. "I am your farmboy. And you're my Lex."
Lex curled closer until he was practically in Clark's lap. He laid his head on Clark's chest and took in several deep breaths. "Is this too close?"
Clark ran his hands up and down Lex's back. Last night had been rough on so many levels for Lex, who had already been through so many life trials. He shook his head. "Never too close, Lex... You know I love being like this with you, right?"
"Good, because I plan on spending the day like this," Lex murmured. He kissed Clark's chest and curled his arms around him. "You and I, one being... Unless you have a call, in which case, you must come right back to me."
"I think the planet can survive one day without Superman every once in a while," Clark muttered, pulling Lex all the way onto his lap. "Comfy?"
"Yes. You're a perfect cushion," Lex replied. He closed his eyes and let Clark's warmth seep into him. He was so in love, and even more, even though he hurt in way that he didn't want to talk about, having Clark by his side made the world much more bearable. He should have crawled into Clark's lap a long time ago.
"Mmm, good to know." Clark smiled. "Do you thin-" He turned his head as the phone rang, then stretched his arm out to pick it up. "Hello?"
"You turned off your comm," Batman accused darkly.
"Yes, and I'm two seconds away from hanging up, too. I'm taking the day off," Clark replied just as darkly.
"You needed to be notified of a recent development regarding the man you brought in last night," Batman said immediately. "He ran into the boyfriend of one of the meteor mutants he experimented on, and the man seemed to be a mutant himself. He removed all of Lucas Luthor's blood through his pores."
Clark blinked, his back and shoulders tensing. "What? When?"
Lex opened his eyes and looked up at Clark with concern.
"About half an hour ago," Batman replied. "We should have thought to keep him separated from the other prisoners, but what's done is done. We have the other guards. If you want to make an effort to write the story yourself, you should put it in tomorrow morning at the latest. This is going to blow up pretty big. A lost Luthor brother. An underground testing facility from their father. An explanation to the random meta sightings."
"Goddamn it," Clark muttered under his breath, the rare curse making his lips curl with disgust as much as the reason for it. He exhaled sharply. "If Lex agrees, I want him personally involved in the helping of those metas. He's to have the same clearance as I do." Clark looked at Lex and tried to imagine how he would tell his love this one, now.
Lex reached up and petted Clark's face. He pressed his lips to the corner of Clark's jaw and nodded.
"I can arrange it, if he's interested. He'd have the keys to anything remaining, and if Bruce Wayne gets involved, it'll look legitimate. I'll get on that." Batman paused. "I'm very sorry, Clark."
Clark lowered his head. "Thanks, B, I appreciate it. And sorry I got snappy before. I'll write the story for tomorrow, and make sure the focus is on how those people need help, and not preconceived judgment. Thanks for being the one to call here."
"I wouldn't have anyone else do it," Batman replied, almost sounding a tad sentimental. "Goodbye, Clark."
"Bye." Clark watched the receiver for a moment before he put it back on its cradle. He and Bruce didn't always agree on methodology and where fine lines should be drawn, but there was no one else Clark would rather have at his side in battle if given the choice. He took a breath and met Lex's eyes. "It's about your brother, Lex."
Lex blinked slowly and then nodded. "Okay." He wrapped an arm around the back of Clark's neck and braced himself. He had no idea what that furry-eyebrowed psychopath could have done now. Maybe he'd escaped, or admitted to more crimes. "What is it?"
"He was killed in jail. He ended up in the same cell as a metahuman with a grudge against him." Clark touched Lex's hand. "It was a mistake. I'm sorry."
"I..." Lex's mouth hung slaw as he looked up at Clark in disbelief. "No, you- you couldn't have known. I... I treated him horribly, and he was my brother. I should have- Gone to him. Tried..."
"No," Clark said firmly, his brow furrowing. "You will not blame yourself for this, Lex, not this time. You and Lucas had the same father, and you made different choices, and besides, if you're gonna blame someone, blame Lionel for cheating on your mom and then doing what he did to Lucas."
"I'm sorry, it's just a bit of a shock to have a brother appear and then die within the course of a day!" Lex pulled back a little and covered his face with his hand. "Sometimes I think I should have taken that man out a long time ago. I should have let my father die during the tornado and saved myself, my daughter, Lucas, and all of those people he pulled underground!"
Clark thinned his lips and slowly hugged Lex across the shoulders. "I know. But you did the right thing by saving him, even if it doesn't seem like it now. If I stopped to wonder if the people I'm saving are murderers, child abusers, criminals in general... I'd never put on the cape at all."
Lex let go and leaned against Clark again, feeling like he might actually cry. He tried to remember to breathe, and to listen to what his love was telling him, because he did this every day, and he knew. "It must be maddening sometimes."
"You can't think about it," Clark said as he rubbed Lex's arm and rocked him a little. "And I'm really sorry about your brother. Who knows how he'd have turned out under different circumstances?"
"I guess you never can know what will change the course of a life," Lex murmured, pressing his cheek to Clark's chest and frowning. "By all accounts, I should be a raving madman by now... Good thing you knocked me up."
Clark arched his eyebrows, looked at Lex, and laughed softly. "Can't argue that one."
Lex laughed softly and leaned his head up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."
Clark cupped Lex's face and smiled. "You're welcome. I'll be writing an article about what happened, and I'll try to keep your name out of it, except to mention that you'll be working with the League. Does that work for you?"
Lex creased a brow, thinking about that. "Yeah, that'll be good. I don't want Athena to have to be connected with this. Her classmates won't read the news, but their parents will."
"Yeah. We'll have to talk to her about it, so she knows what to say in case someone mentions it to her." Clark picked up a tea mug and handed it to Lex.
Lex took the mug and wrapped his fingers around it. "We'll work together. We're a family now, and we'll help her. Make sure she's prepared."
Clark nodded. "Yes, we will. And I'm gonna make sure you have the best day possible, despite everything." He hugged Lex again.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Clark. It'll be better, just because you're here." Lex took a drink of his tea and rested his head on Clark again.
Authors: herohunter and ladydreamer
Pairing: Clex
Rating: Generally PG, and NC-17 in parts
Warning: mpreg
Summary: One cold November evening, twelve years after Lex Luthor left Smallville and Clark Kent behind, the two meet in Centennial Park… as Lex is walking home with his daughter.
Thanks to our beta lexalicious, and to lapetite-kiki for the beautiful cover for the fic.
Part Seven
Clark finished typing his article on the latest Metropolis anti-pollution measures and hit 'save' and 'print.' He sat back in his chair and swayed it from side to side leisurely as the printer did its part.
Lois sauntered over and sat on his desk, leaning over a pile of folders that Clark had been trying to get to and knocking over a snow globe with a little Superman in it that Cat Grant had given him for the Secret Santa last year. "Busy, Smallville?"
"Careful, Lois," Clark told her, standing up to pick up the snow globe, then pretending to trip, and pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he straightened. "I just finished today's article. You?" He set the globe carefully back on his desk.
"Finished this morning," she replied breezily. "City council meetings don't exactly turn me on. I hear through the grapevine that they've picked up another freak at central booking." Lois pulled out a folder and looked through it. "They're coming out of the woodwork, lately. Not from around here, either."
"Metahumans," corrected Clark, going around his desk again. "I can't figure it out; they just show up from God knows where, disoriented..."
"And start busting up whatever they can find," Lois said dryly. "I don't know. The 'metahumans' are your beat, though, so I thought I'd pass it along." She pointed the folder at him.
"Thanks." Clark sat back down and opened the folder, looking through the information. "They seem to behave violently, which causes them to be thrown in Belle Reve, or killed on sight."
"I'm not sure what they expect to happen." Lois stood and shifted her weight to one hip. "The cops will get them, if they can, and if they can't Superman is here. You'd have to have been underground in a hole for the past ten years to not know that."
Clark's eyes narrowed. "Yeah..." That was an idea.
Just then, Lex walked in, carrying a small gray cooler. He gave Clark a little wave.
Clark's face lit up in a wide smile. He put down the folder and walked around the desk to meet Lex. "Hey, there!"
"Hey there." Lex approached him with a loose-hipped gate and gave Clark a hug. Over Clark's shoulder he could see Lois' eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Clark closed his eyes briefly as he took in Lex's scent, then opened them again and gave Lex's lips a kiss. "Right on time. I just finished today's text."
"Excellent. I missed you. Has Athena given you her daily call yet?" Lex asked with amusement. He gave Clark another kiss. Lois' eyes went very round.
"She sure did, said she's looking forward to movie night, and that she already knows what movie we're watching. I'm marginally concerned." Clark chuckled. He wrapped one arm around Lex's shoulders, got the cooler from Lex and turned to set it on the table. "Just let me take the article to the proofreader and we can have lunch." He looked at Lois. "This is Lois Lane, my colleague," he told Lex.
Lois leaned forward to shake Lex's hand. "It's good to meet you. Clark has said absolutely nothing about you."
"Make sense. Considering he works with a pack of reporters," Lex shot back, squeezing her hand firmly. He let go and sat in Clark's desk chair.
"I'm Lois Lane. I'm more interested in Superman stories than gossip for the society page," Lois quipped, cocking her head to the side. "Besides, Metropolis doesn't care who Clark is dating."
"No? Well, that's good." Lex smirked.
When Lex didn't appear to be giving up any information, Lois sighed and asked, "What's your name?"
"You can call me Lexie."
Clark ducked his head and suppressed a snicker. "We live together," he volunteered as he walked the three steps to the printer and collected his article. The proofreader never had to correct any of his work, but it was the guy's job, and Clark didn't mind following the chain of command.
"For how long?" Lois asked.
"How long have you had that smashing skirted suit?" Lex asked in return.
"How does that matter?" Lois shot back in irritation.
"How does it matter to you how long we've been living together?" Lex suppressed a chuckle. This one was fun to rile up.
Clark grinned; he knew that Lex could hold his own like a pro around press, especially one that hadn't recognized him yet. "Be right back, pumpkin," he told Lex with a wink.
Lex lifted his brow at the term "pumpkin," but didn't stop smiling. "Okay, sugar muff."
"Do I know you from somewhere?" Lois asked, crossing her arms.
"It's possible. It's a crazy world," Lex replied.
Lois shook her head and walked back to her desk. Amused, Lex started to look over Clark's desk, which needed organizing. It took all that was in him to not start sorting the papers.
Clark returned to his desk, sighing because Lex was there, being all mysterious and being his. "You look really cute there," he said softly, leaning over his desk so only Lex would hear him.
"I'm cute? I thought I was being nosy." Lex smiled mischievously, touching the snow globe with his middle finger. "Where did you get this?"
"Christmas gift," Clark said. "Secret Santa from a co-worker."
Lex picked it up and swished it around, looking at the little Superman inside as he put his hands on his hips proudly and soared through the snowy Metropolis skyline. "I bet he saves teeny little cats." Lex set it down and looked Clark in the eye. "Where do you want to eat? I brought you that soup I was talking about, sandwiches, and some fruit salad. And a cookie." He winked.
"Hm, a cookie!" Clark picked up the cooler and offered Lex a hand. "We could go to the park or downstairs, to the break room."
"Let's go to the park." Lex took his hand and wrapped his arm around Clark's waist. "We can chat without people listening in."
Clark nodded. "See you later, Lois!" he said over his shoulder.
Lois waved two fingers without looking away from her computer. "See ya, Smallville."
"Found any interesting stories lately?" Lex asked.
"Yeah, actually. Every so often, a metahuman pops up and makes a mess in the city. They get locked up or shot, and nobody knows where they're coming from, just that they're aggressive and not cooperative." Clark walked to the elevator with Lex.
"And they won't say where they came from? I'd think the police would be able to find a past history prior to their appearance in Metropolis," Lex mused. The elevator door closed and Lex let his hand trail down the front of Clark's pants.
"Uh..." Clark licked his lips and shook his head. "They're never coherent enough to tell enough before they're drugged or hurt."
"It might be a good idea to run their prints, see if they've had any previous arrests. The police must not recognize it as a pattern," Lex said thoughtfully. His hand rested on Clark's crotch.
"Lex," Clark muttered in a warning tone. "You know what you do to me, don't you?"
"Oh, yes." Lex smiled up at him smugly then slipped his hands into his pockets.
Clark pressed his lips together and took a deep breath. "Evil. Now I'm gonna be horny the rest of the day."
"Then you'll be perfectly percolated for me when you get home," Lex teased.
"I want shower sex," Clark declared, touching the small of Lex's back as the elevator doors opened again. He lowered his hand to Lex's ass, gave it a little squeeze and moved it back up.
"Yes," Lex replied with a smile. They walked down the sidewalk together, and Lex didn't care if anyone saw them. "That sounds delicious."
Clark wrapped his arm around Lex's waist. "I love you."
"Love you too, sexy reporter." He reached up and touched the bridge of Clark's nerd glasses.
***
A few weeks later, Lex was sitting in the middle of the living room surrounded by photos of the metahumans who had been spotted over the course of the past year. He had a map taped to the wall with spots marked where each of the metahumans had been first spotted. Athena was with her grandparents for the weekend, and he missed her already, but there was nothing else to be cleaned, so he'd put himself to this problem, which had been bothering him incessantly. He had been off and on digging up all the information he could find on each of the metas.
Superman flew in through an open window and caught a couple of photos that his arrival stirred. "Wow," he said softly, his voice going back to Lex's. "You're pulling a Chloe on me, huh?"
"Am I? I'll have to go get a quirky hairdo," Lex replied. After a moment, he looked up from his papers. "How was patrol?"
"Fine. No yucky blobs this time, just the usual." He zipped off and returned a couple of seconds later, in sweatpants and a t-shirt. He told Lex about what happened out there, but not too much because some things were just too sad and too ugly, and he would rather not bring that into their home. "Did the daughter call?"
"Yes, and she said she'd call later, to try to catch you. She's going out for a ride on the horses," Lex informed him. He looked up and lifted his chin for a kiss.
Clark sat down next to Lex, cupped his face with one hand, and kissed him, eyes closed, heart several tons lighter now that he was home again. "Hmm, good. What have you found out?"
"Well, primarily that most of them were sighted near or around a subway entrance," Lex informed Clark.
"I've made a quick search around each area and found nothing... Do you think there might be lead lining somewhere underground?" Clark picked up a photograph of a girl who was able to create whirlwinds at will. She did not seem able to speak or communicate at all, however, and was now drooling in a padded cell in Belle Reve.
"There might be," Lex agreed. "And I would go visit to ask them... or pay a guard to break someone out long enough for the drugs to wear off and talk to them, but although the survivors were sent back to a high security mental institution, most of them aren't there now. And they haven't reported any escapes. They're disappearing just as mysteriously as they appeared."
Clark nodded slowly as he set the picture back down. "I should have spent more time on this." He looked at Lex with a regretful expression. "What do you want to do?"
"I want to..." Lex looked down at the pictures. "Question the staff at Belle Reve, for starters. Someone will have seen something. I need to get a map of the underground. See where they might be coming from."
"I have one of those at the Planet; I can go get it right now. Anything else?"
Lex covered his mouth. "That's all I can think of right now."
"All right, hang on." Clark gave Lex's lips a quick kiss and was gone.
Lex began organizing his pictures and profiles. He was very concerned that those people who had come out of the subways had been too disoriented to know what they were doing, and the police were too suspicious of metas to consider them innocent until proven guilty. Whoever had them, they were going to pay.
Clark returned with a couple of rolled up maps and a bag of Chinese food. "Chang was a little weirded out that I had no shoes on, but I got us food so we don't have to worry about that. Here are the maps."
"Thank you, Clark," Lex said appreciatively. He took the maps and spread them out on the floor, taking a deep breath, and frowned at them seriously. "Chang will get used to it. Did we get eggdrop soup?"
"Just for you. I've got the Lo Mein, but enough for two." Clark handed Lex the maps, set the bag down and turned towards the kitchen to get plates and silverware.
"Well, I like the Lo Mein..." Lex buried himself in studying the two maps in front of him. When his stomach growled, he remembered that he'd skipped lunch in order to look at more of the profiles that he'd gathered.
Clark brought a tray over and sat by Lex again. "The underground tunnels are a mess," he said as he poured Lex a glass of orange juice. "There are old closed off tunnels and some that got reused for the new subway system. I guess it wouldn't be a stretch for someone to have set up a secret facility down there. Since they're dealing with kryptonite mutants, they may found out about lead..."
'It would have been smart. Occasionally there are metahumans who tend to give off meteor radiation without meaning to," Lex replied. He took a sip of his juice. "Thank you."
"You're welcome." Clark dished up for the two of them and crossed his legs Indian style as he ate and studied the way that Lex had organized the information before them. "That's true. Some of them make me feel sick and others, don't."
"Really?" Lex looked back at Clark and frowned, caressing Clark's chest a little. "I didn't know that." He sat back with Clark and took his own plate. "We could go down there and find out. Or do you think it would be better to question the staff first?"
Clark took a bite of his eggroll and shrugged. "Both? I can send someone to Belle Reve who can be really convincing at getting answers while you and I take a subway ride?" He knew that there was no way that Lex would sit this one out; he was just going to have to watch out for his accident-prone lover.
"Sounds like a plan." Lex took a sip of his eggdrop soup and sighed. "So good." He kissed Clark's cheek and patted his thigh. "I have a bullet proof vest in my bottom dresser drawer. Just in case."
"Good. I don't want you hurt; our daughter needs you." Clark would call Bruce later and ask Batman to take a trip to Belle Reve.
"She needs you, too," Lex insisted, although he knew she would be twice as devastated if something happened to him. It was simply because he had raised her, and Clark was new, but it was still there.
Clark smiled at Lex a little, chewing his food. "When do you wanna go?"
"After dinner? Or we could wait until the trains stop running. No one there to see us," Lex suggested.
"Definitely," agreed Clark. "I'll put Flash on alert for a distress call, though, and give you a communicator in case something happens and we need to be bailed out."
"Agreed." Lex lifted some Lo Mein to his lips and hmmed happily as he chewed.
"And we should wear black."
Lex swallowed. "I can get on board with that. You're hot in black."
Clark laughed. "Thanks. So are you, though I'm partial to naked myself..."
"Well, not naked in the tunnel..." Lex lifted his chopsticks to Clark's lips. "But maybe later on..."
"Hehe. We were told to enjoy our weekend, after all..." Clark stuck out his lower lip.
Lex pinched Clark's lower lip with his chopsticks and grinned.
"And we do have the whole apartment to ourselves..." Lex pointed out.
"M-hmm..."
Lex put some more in his mouth and chewed very slowly, then licked his lips.
Clark leaned in and licked Lex's lips as well. "Mmm, delicious."
"Yes." Lex pushed himself up on Clark's thigh and kissed him as though starving for Clark's affection. He could never get enough of this man.
Clark moved his plate aside and held Lex against him. Maybe a quick one before they went out...
***
It was late at night after the subway had stopped running, when Clark and Lex slipped into the system, dressed in black, and in Lex's case, Kevlar. Lex had a mag-light with him, and swept it around the area before they began to move in deeper. He knew they would have to rely on Clark's abilities more than Lex's own natural aptitude, but he hoped that he would be able to help. Twenty minutes later, they were traveling through the dark tunnels and waiting to find something.
"I can hear some critters crawling around," Clark told Lex, x-raying every wall as they moved along. "But no people yet."
"Hm." Lex nodded. A rat scurried over his foot, and he jumped back, then sighed at himself. "If she ever asks, no, Athena cannot have a gerbil."
Clark laughed softly, then wrapped one arm around Lex and floated the two of them a few inches off he ground. "I'll remember. The next abandoned tunnel is over there."
"I can see more accurately in the dark than most, but I don't think it's the same as what you see," Lex commented. He let his flashlight go back and forth over their path. "It's as good as daylight for you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is, but it took me a while to figure out this one. Now it's just a matter of focus." Clark paused in the air and wrinkled his nose. "Something died around here."
"Maybe the rats...?" Lex trailed off as he covered his nose. "Ugh. It gets worse as we go down. Clark?" Lex shone his light at the far end of the tunnel.
"I see it. A hole. Looks big enough for someone to squeeze through." Clark let Lex gently down and approached the hole. He squatted near the edge and looked down into it. "I can only see through the hole; I bet the walls are led-lined from that side."
"Guess so. Are we going down?" Lex asked, shining his light down.
Clark nodded. "I don't see another option." He reached over and broke a chunk of cement out, making the hole slightly bigger.
"Okay then." Lex peered over the hole to check for anything like a tentacle monster or giant praying mantis. Then he attached the flashlight to his belt and stuck a foot into the hole. "Hang onto me."
"You're not jumping in there," Clark told him, pulling Lex to his chest and slowly lowering them through the hole and looking around wearily. "Oh." He spotted a dead body a little further down the smaller tunnel below.
Lex pulled his flashlight and quickly looked for what Clark had seen. He blinked and leaned his head back. "Explains the smell. Do you think he... Or she was one of the escaping metas?"
Clark stopped breathing altogether, feeling guilty because Lex couldn't do the same. To his defense, he smelled much more than humans did. "What else would they be doing down here?" He floated them further up and shook his head. "There's another one there."
"Didn't make it," Lex muttered. "Well, I was going to say someone might be dumping bodies, but that seems unlikely. I wonder if, wherever they came from, they had a microchip placed in their brain to keep track of them. Then they went missing..."
"Why would someone be collecting metahumans like that? And who?" Clark asked, hesitating when they became face-to-face with another web of tunnels, but too narrow for subway cars. "Those are definitely lead-lined."
"Who? Good question. Why? Well, I know back in his day, my father had the tendency to collect people with abilities to future scientific experimentation. All in the hopes of making more money, of course," Lex informed Clark.
"God," Clark whispered. "And those poor people whose only fault was to be in Smallville when I arrived, or to have parents that did..." His heart tightened. Like Lex, like so many others...
"Don't blame yourself," Lex said seriously. He kissed Clark's jaw and found Clark's hand in the dark. "We're going to find them, and we're going to stop this."
Clark chose the tunnel to the right and moved along with Lex. "I hear something... A generator."
"Yeah? Clark, if we have... A collector, then they'll need a source of power down here." Lex pressed his lips together thoughtfully as they moved through the tunnel. "Individuals with abilities require more than your usual amount of measure for containment."
"A different kind of cell for each prisoner," Clark agreed. Further up, he tilted his head to the side. "Voices. Do you hear them?"
Lex tilted his head to the side as well and listened carefully. "No. No, I don't," he said quietly.
"Wait." Clark pulled Lex with him and stopped again when a light could be seen up ahead. "Now?"
"Okay, listening..." Lex paused and stayed completely still. Eventually he caught the sound of someone screaming, and there were also some voices chatting away. Guards, probably, or lab techs. Lex felt a twinge in his chest for whoever was being hurt inside there... And there was likely more than one person being harmed. Lex just couldn't hear everything that was going on. "They're here. We're right on the money."
Clark nodded. He tapped his left ear and whispered, "Stand by," then tapped it again. If he felt ill inside and was unable to keep himself and Lex from getting out, Flash would be there in no time, followed by Hawkgirl and Green Lantern. Clark wasn't taking any chances with people who were willing to imprison metahumans and keep them locked up until they went insane.
Lex turned his head to Clark and looked at the outline of his face. "What's our next move?"
Clark took a deep breath. "We bust in and take over?" He shrugged one shoulder. "I'm not willing to wait to return with the police and risk the prisoners having been moved or killed, you?"
Lex shrugged and nodded. He looked up at the light ahead, and reached around to the back of his belt and pulled out a gun. "Right. Where do we head in? Can you scan the place once we're closer?"
Clark x-rayed the door. It wasn't lead-lined like the tunnel walls. "Two guards, talking. They don't seem to concerned that anyone will come in or out. I see a row of three doors to each side, a couple of windows, and cell doors. It's a huge complex, Lex."
"Let's think about this." Lex swallowed pensively. "Taking out the guards should be fairly easy, if they're that relaxed. We should get inside, put on their uniforms, and take out anyone who could hurt those individuals by a remote or switch. You think? Find one person who can get us control of the facility."
"I'm sure there will be heavy tranquilizers in there," Clark added. "If there's no Green K near, I can enter one of the labs, get them, and that's something we can use on whoever is in there at this time. The metas might get agitated once they realize something's up, especially those with deteriorated mental states."
Lex nodded in agreement. "Once we get the place locked down, we can call someone to help transport them somewhere the can be properly taken care of."
"They're just waiting for my signal," Clark said with a sharp nod. "Or yours, if something happens." He turned to Lex, cupped his face and kissed him.
Lex kissed him in return and cupped Clark's ass. He never did this kind of thing anymore, but it was exciting. It reminded him of crawling around in the caves or saving those kids being held hostage in the plant, only there were more people to save. "I'm going to be fine, and so are you. Now let's take these assholes down."
"Yeah." Clark tapped his ear so that Flash could hear whatever happened, gave Lex another look, and headed for the metal door.
Ten minutes later, dressed in a stiff blue guard's uniform that was a bit big, Lex pistol-whipped the back of a man's head, then tied him up in the closet. He checked his locator and then touched his ear.
"Farmboy," he whispered. "I'm in the main control room. I'll shut down the exits and keep an eye on the patients."
"You got it, Maniac," Clark replied, reaching a large conference room at the very end of the complex and breaking down a door. "I'm almost done here," he said, stepping inside and freezing when he felt the nozzle of a gun being pressed to his temple.
"Hold it right there, asshole. Who the hell d'you think you are?" the man behind him demanded. He had dark brown hair and enormous furry eyebrows, and his angular jaw twitched tensely. "You don't come into my house and start breaking things down. I've got you, and I've called the guards. So put 'em up, chunk, and try not to wet yourself."
Clark turned his head very slowly until the gun was pressed against his forehead. "Your guards are down. What else you got?"
The man with the eyebrows scowled and pulled the trigger.
Clark jerked his head to the side to avoid the dark powder mark the crushed bullet would leave on his skin; Lex would freak out if he saw that. In the blink of an eye, he took the gun from the man, broke it in half, and placed his right hand, fingers splayed on the man's chest. He pushed until the man's back was against a wall and then he pushed only enough to make the man breathless for a moment. "You're the boss, huh? What's your name?"
"Wuh- whu-" The man stuttered. He grasped against the wall and looked over Clark with a mixture of horror and disgust. "Lucas! My name is Lucas."
"Lucas." Clark let Lucas breathe once and then pushed again. "Lucas what?"
"Luthor! Geezus, not so hard!" Lucas yelped.
Clark blinked and then blinked again, his eyes widening. He let Lucas go completely, walked around in a tight circle, and then his lips twisted as he looked at Lucas again.
"You're Rachel's son," he whispered, remembering that sweet confused lady who had ended up trying to kill Lex because Lionel had taken her son from her and put her in a mental institution.
"How the hell do you know that? Who are you?" His furry brows screwed together. He could have run, but he was too terrified. You couldn't let those freaks run around unrestrained.
Clark shook his head minutely, frowning. Oh, Lex was not gonna like this one little bit. "I met your mother once," he said sadly. "What are you doing here, keeping those people locked up like this?" he asked, unable to stop himself. "They need help, not torture!"
"They have to be controlled," Lucas informed him. "My father put me in charge before he died. We sell our findings to the highest bidder. Their lives are never going to mean anything! Might as well send the results on so that normal people can have better lives."
"God." Clark closed his eyes for a couple of seconds. Ah, the atrocities that men committed against one another. "Your father was a murderer and a monster," he muttered. He felt genuinely sad that Lex's half-brother had become one as well.
"My father was a practical man, and I play my best odds," Lucas replied disdainfully. "If this hadn't happened, you'd be in a cell with those freaks down there."
Clark caught himself grinning although no humor reached his eyes. "You think so? Well, guess who's gonna be put in a cell now..."
Lucas thinned his lips in a very Luthorish expression. "I've been in jail before. It's nothing big."
"Yeah? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't your practical man of a father die in a prison cell?" Clark moved to the large table in the room, crossed his arms and leaned back on it.
Lucas slipped his hands in his pockets and rolled his tongue around in his cheek. Then suddenly he bolted for the hallway.
Clark looked at the door. "No, really?" He did not even try to superspeed, but ran after Lucas at regular human speed. His legs were longer anyway. He caught the back of Lucas' shirt and then held him from behind with one arm, pinning his arms down in the process. "Aw, don't leave, Lucas. There's someone I want you to meet."
Lucas sighed heavily and hung there, sucking his cheeks in. "Fine. Show me your imaginary friend."
"I will." Clark kept Lucas where he was, against his side, and tapped his comm. "Where are you?" he asked Lex.
"Control room. I think it's in the middle, to the far left of where we entered? I've got an eye on all the metahumans, Farmboy. They look alright," Lex answered.
"Farmboy?" Lucas laughed.
"Shut up," Clark said roughly, lifting Lucas up a couple of inches and carrying him to where Lex was. "I found the man in charge," he told Lex. "Brace yourself."
"Consider me braced. Remember the girl who made the tornadoes? She's in a cell here. By herself, poor kid," Lex informed Clark as he waited for him.
"Oh, good!" Clark brightened up as he hauled Lucas' ass along. "I want to see her, talk to her. I like her." He found the door to the control room and walked inside, then switched off his comm.
Lex spun around in the chair and frowned at Lucas. "This is the guy in charge? I imagined someone... Old enough to drink."
"Watch it, baldshine," Lucas spat back.
Lex rolled his eyes. "So we contact the League and have him and the others put away?"
Clark gave Lucas a squeeze hard enough to make him squeak, then loosened his grip so Lucas could breathe again. "His name is Lucas Luthor," he said without preamble. Like ripping off a bandage, people said.
"He's the son of Rachel Dunlevy and Lionel." He watched Lex carefully.
Lex's brows went up first, then he opened his mouth slightly, feeling a little like he was going to be sick. "That can't be..."
"It is. Obviously. I'm here. What's it to you?" Lucas demanded.
"I'm Lex Luthor," Lex replied, pursing his lips. "I'm your older brother."
Lucas leaned forward and narrowed his eyes as he looked at Lex more closely, as though he didn't believe him and was scanning to see some trace of Lionel there. After a moment he groaned and looked up in annoyance.
"Lionel left him in charge," Clark explained rather unnecessarily. "And he just tried to bolt on me."
"I imagine that was immensely effective," Lex said dryly. "Tie him up." He shook his head and looked at Lucas coldly. "How could you do this? Even if my father told you to do this, surely you had something of your own telling you that using other people is essentially wrong?"
"I had a bad childhood," Lucas said, curling his lip slightly. "I bounced from foster family to foster family. Essentially raised myself. If I ever needed anything, I got it myself, and believe me, it's a survival of the fittest world out there, rich boy."
Lex lifted his chin and slit his eyes. "Lionel Luthor raised me at his knee, using the promise of his love as bait to get me to do whatever he wanted. He perpetually cut down my self-esteem, beat me when he was angry, and isolated me like any sociopath isolates his victims so they can torture them more. He enjoyed it, savored it. He enjoyed stringing me around. My mother didn't even love me, unless I moved to her exact specifications, and when my nanny seemed to give me the affection I craved, he threatened to hurt me and paid her to leave us. For years he punished me because he believed I killed my brother in his crib, when it was in fact my mother and I protected her to ensure that my father didn't have her killed. Then she died anyway." Lex's nostrils flared. "I'm not keeping people underground and experimenting on them."
Clark said nothing. He yanked a long piece of phone cord from the wall and tied Lucas's wrists together behind his back, then his ankles. During their friendship in Smallville, he had gotten most of that back history from Lex, but in small doses, almost careless comments here and there, but to hear it all spelled out in one big declaration... He would make sure to love Lex all night tonight, just cover him in kisses, caresses and loving words until Lex fell asleep... And for the rest of their lives, too.
Lucas stared at his brother with bitter eyes until Lex turned away from him and focused on the screens in front of him. "Call them in," he said quietly. "And let's wrap this night up." He let his head fall back so he could look at Clark. "Hell of a story, this one. Hell of a night."
Once Clark tied Lucas to a counter that was bolted to the floor, he walked up to Lex and hugged him back to chest, just holding him close. "I love you," he whispered.
Lex took a deep breath. "I love you too." He rested his head back on Clark's chest.
Clark hugged Lex across his chest and kissed up the side of his face. "He's seen me, and he'll connect me to you now, unlike the guards. I have to remedy that."
"Remedy that how?" Lex looked back at Clark curiously.
"I can make him forget my face, and return as Superman." Clark bit his lower lip. "You won't like the method, though."
Lex narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. "It doesn't involve bashing his head in, does it?"
Clark chuckled. "No. It's called the Kiss of Lethe, actually."
"Kiss?" Lex repeated. "As in... kiss? On the lips?"
Clark nodded slowly. "But he won't remember, I promise."
"I'll remember," Lex pointed out. He sighed and shook his head. "Go ahead. It has to be done."
"I'll be quick," Clark promised, and gave Lex's lips a hard kiss before letting go. He turned and approached Lucas, then crouched down since Lucas was sitting on the floor, with his back to a wall.
Lucas pressed himself against the wall and glared at Clark. "What do you want, queer?"
"Nothing you'll miss," Clark told him, then pressed his lips to Lucas, hard enough that Lucas could not get away. He focused on the memories of him inside Lucas' mind, closed his eyes, and made them dissipate, like smoke meeting wind. When he was done, he drew back and before Lucas could open his eyes, Clark was gone.
Lucas stared at the back of Lex's head, and he frowned in confusion.
At the console, Lex smoothed his hands over the sides of his face with a sigh. He focused on the individuals before him. He didn't need to think more about that kiss than he had to. Although... He sort of wanted to ask Clark if he'd ever done it to him.
Superman came into the room seconds later, followed by Flash. The other Leaguers were not far behind. "That's him," he told Flash in his deep voice.
"Come on, eyebrows," Flash said after a moment, leaning down to help Lucas up. "You have some 'splaining to do!"
"Don't call me eyebrows, squirt," Lucas snapped at Flash.
Lex turned his head to get a look at the Leaguers. "Thanks for the help."
"Don't mention it," Green Lantern replied with a scowl. What a horrid, nightmarish place.
Flash eyed Lucas and pushed him at Hawkgirl. "Wanna give our badboy a ride to the precinct, Hawkgirl?"
"Oh, do I!" Hawkgirl grabbed Lucas and flew off with him. She'd give him the fright of his life with her stunts, and both she and Flash knew it.
Superman talked to Flash and Green Lantern about setting up another facility to help the metahumans in there, then walked over to Lex when the other two had left the room to take away the guards.
"Got business taken care of, Supes?" Lex asked, leaning back in the chair to look up at him. "I was wondering if I could get a ride home."
Superman's face fell, and it was Clark looking at Lex again. He brushed the knuckles of his right hand across Lex's cheek. "Yes, let's go home. They'll be taken care of; you've done enough."
"Good." Lex stood and walked by Clark's side and took his cue to lead him out of this desperate, terrible place. He needed to be home with his Clark, his partner, and take a long hot shower with him, to get his mind off of the image of what he could have become.
Once they were out in the wider tunnel, Clark wrapped his arms around Lex, pushed off the ground and slowly flew them up and out of there. Soon it was just the night air around them, and Clark wrapped his cape around Lex to keep him warm. He wanted to say he was sorry for so much, for Lex's father, mother, brother, and everything that had ever made Lex sad in his life, but he simply managed to give Lex's lips a kiss and then press their foreheads together.
***
Lex had uncharacteristically dragged a blanket out to the sofa when he'd woken groggily that morning, much later than he normally did. As soon as they'd returned home, Clark and Lex had gotten in the shower, cleaned off, and then Lex returned to the bedroom, pulled briefs and a t-shirt on, and crashed on the bed. The adrenaline of the evening had worn off, and he was exhausted.
Even now he yawned, and he reached over to the coffee table with his toes to change the channel on the television. He was hoping Clark wouldn't have to go out today.
Clark emerged from the kitchen with two mugs of steaming tea that he placed on the coffee table, but away from the reach of Lex's toes. He joined Lex on the sofa, wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close. "I made tea," he said, kissing Lex's temple and cheek.
"I see that, and smell that. Thank you. Hm." Lex curled his legs up underneath him and placed his hand on Clark's chest. He rubbed softly. "I need a better nickname for you than 'farmboy.'"
Clark chuckled. "I don't mind it. Lois calls me 'Smallville,' which would have been fine if she didn't mean it pejoratively. Jimmy calls me 'CK' and Flash, 'Supes.' I don't think I have any other nicknames, but if you want to give me one, I'm sure I'll love it." He covered Lex's hand with his and pressed his lips to Lex's once.
"I'll have to think about it." Lex snuggled into Clark's side and gave him several more kisses. He just wanted to be curled around Clark for hours and hours. "I don't mean it pejoratively. I mean it as 'my farmboy.'"
"Hmm, I know." Clark smiled softly. "I am your farmboy. And you're my Lex."
Lex curled closer until he was practically in Clark's lap. He laid his head on Clark's chest and took in several deep breaths. "Is this too close?"
Clark ran his hands up and down Lex's back. Last night had been rough on so many levels for Lex, who had already been through so many life trials. He shook his head. "Never too close, Lex... You know I love being like this with you, right?"
"Good, because I plan on spending the day like this," Lex murmured. He kissed Clark's chest and curled his arms around him. "You and I, one being... Unless you have a call, in which case, you must come right back to me."
"I think the planet can survive one day without Superman every once in a while," Clark muttered, pulling Lex all the way onto his lap. "Comfy?"
"Yes. You're a perfect cushion," Lex replied. He closed his eyes and let Clark's warmth seep into him. He was so in love, and even more, even though he hurt in way that he didn't want to talk about, having Clark by his side made the world much more bearable. He should have crawled into Clark's lap a long time ago.
"Mmm, good to know." Clark smiled. "Do you thin-" He turned his head as the phone rang, then stretched his arm out to pick it up. "Hello?"
"You turned off your comm," Batman accused darkly.
"Yes, and I'm two seconds away from hanging up, too. I'm taking the day off," Clark replied just as darkly.
"You needed to be notified of a recent development regarding the man you brought in last night," Batman said immediately. "He ran into the boyfriend of one of the meteor mutants he experimented on, and the man seemed to be a mutant himself. He removed all of Lucas Luthor's blood through his pores."
Clark blinked, his back and shoulders tensing. "What? When?"
Lex opened his eyes and looked up at Clark with concern.
"About half an hour ago," Batman replied. "We should have thought to keep him separated from the other prisoners, but what's done is done. We have the other guards. If you want to make an effort to write the story yourself, you should put it in tomorrow morning at the latest. This is going to blow up pretty big. A lost Luthor brother. An underground testing facility from their father. An explanation to the random meta sightings."
"Goddamn it," Clark muttered under his breath, the rare curse making his lips curl with disgust as much as the reason for it. He exhaled sharply. "If Lex agrees, I want him personally involved in the helping of those metas. He's to have the same clearance as I do." Clark looked at Lex and tried to imagine how he would tell his love this one, now.
Lex reached up and petted Clark's face. He pressed his lips to the corner of Clark's jaw and nodded.
"I can arrange it, if he's interested. He'd have the keys to anything remaining, and if Bruce Wayne gets involved, it'll look legitimate. I'll get on that." Batman paused. "I'm very sorry, Clark."
Clark lowered his head. "Thanks, B, I appreciate it. And sorry I got snappy before. I'll write the story for tomorrow, and make sure the focus is on how those people need help, and not preconceived judgment. Thanks for being the one to call here."
"I wouldn't have anyone else do it," Batman replied, almost sounding a tad sentimental. "Goodbye, Clark."
"Bye." Clark watched the receiver for a moment before he put it back on its cradle. He and Bruce didn't always agree on methodology and where fine lines should be drawn, but there was no one else Clark would rather have at his side in battle if given the choice. He took a breath and met Lex's eyes. "It's about your brother, Lex."
Lex blinked slowly and then nodded. "Okay." He wrapped an arm around the back of Clark's neck and braced himself. He had no idea what that furry-eyebrowed psychopath could have done now. Maybe he'd escaped, or admitted to more crimes. "What is it?"
"He was killed in jail. He ended up in the same cell as a metahuman with a grudge against him." Clark touched Lex's hand. "It was a mistake. I'm sorry."
"I..." Lex's mouth hung slaw as he looked up at Clark in disbelief. "No, you- you couldn't have known. I... I treated him horribly, and he was my brother. I should have- Gone to him. Tried..."
"No," Clark said firmly, his brow furrowing. "You will not blame yourself for this, Lex, not this time. You and Lucas had the same father, and you made different choices, and besides, if you're gonna blame someone, blame Lionel for cheating on your mom and then doing what he did to Lucas."
"I'm sorry, it's just a bit of a shock to have a brother appear and then die within the course of a day!" Lex pulled back a little and covered his face with his hand. "Sometimes I think I should have taken that man out a long time ago. I should have let my father die during the tornado and saved myself, my daughter, Lucas, and all of those people he pulled underground!"
Clark thinned his lips and slowly hugged Lex across the shoulders. "I know. But you did the right thing by saving him, even if it doesn't seem like it now. If I stopped to wonder if the people I'm saving are murderers, child abusers, criminals in general... I'd never put on the cape at all."
Lex let go and leaned against Clark again, feeling like he might actually cry. He tried to remember to breathe, and to listen to what his love was telling him, because he did this every day, and he knew. "It must be maddening sometimes."
"You can't think about it," Clark said as he rubbed Lex's arm and rocked him a little. "And I'm really sorry about your brother. Who knows how he'd have turned out under different circumstances?"
"I guess you never can know what will change the course of a life," Lex murmured, pressing his cheek to Clark's chest and frowning. "By all accounts, I should be a raving madman by now... Good thing you knocked me up."
Clark arched his eyebrows, looked at Lex, and laughed softly. "Can't argue that one."
Lex laughed softly and leaned his head up to kiss his cheek. "Thank you."
Clark cupped Lex's face and smiled. "You're welcome. I'll be writing an article about what happened, and I'll try to keep your name out of it, except to mention that you'll be working with the League. Does that work for you?"
Lex creased a brow, thinking about that. "Yeah, that'll be good. I don't want Athena to have to be connected with this. Her classmates won't read the news, but their parents will."
"Yeah. We'll have to talk to her about it, so she knows what to say in case someone mentions it to her." Clark picked up a tea mug and handed it to Lex.
Lex took the mug and wrapped his fingers around it. "We'll work together. We're a family now, and we'll help her. Make sure she's prepared."
Clark nodded. "Yes, we will. And I'm gonna make sure you have the best day possible, despite everything." He hugged Lex again.
"I don't know what I'd do without you, Clark. It'll be better, just because you're here." Lex took a drink of his tea and rested his head on Clark again.