Smallville Big Bang 2012
Human Nature
Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Chloe ran. She didn’t know why and she didn’t know where she was going. She knew that she had to lift her knees and that her legs had to keep moving, striding out as the soles of her feet impacted with the unstable ground. Her arms moved too and fro. They swung in the breeze as she dug her toes into the earth, turning the sod. She told herself to go faster through the vegetation
Rows of corn stood like soldiers at attention. Like running across country and into her lover’s arms, she kept her head held high. Thick, hard road rose up to meet her. A flock of lowly birds took flight upon her approach, their wings flapping in the currents their ascension created.
“…Chloe.”
That was Clark. The final vestiges of his voice carried.
Gravestones obscured by time flanked her. Tiny white crosses reaching from the horizon bore silent witness to her freedom.
“…Chloe.”
Clark’s voice seemed further away, barely audible to the unsuspecting.
She remembered her father’s words - ‘When in doubt - follow the river.’
“ … ‘loe … ‘oe…”
Further and further away.
“Clark, what are you doing?” Lois tugged his arm in an effort to turn the bulk of his body so that he was looking at her.
“It’s near on dark,” he spat and pulled his wrist from Lois’ grasp. “Chloe could be anywhere. I’m going to find her.”
“You can barely stand. There’s no way you can walk that far and I’m not dragging your sorry ass back home.”
Clark ignored Lois. Her words did little to comfort him. He knew that Chloe was smart, but he blamed himself. Chloe deserved better than the joke that his life had become.
Lois perched on the arm of the couch and watched Clark as he tried to tie his shoe laces. Loop and swoop. His fingers shook like tremors. The laces swayed like sails in the breeze, and he cursed.
Lois sighed and picked up the phone.
“What are you doing?” He asked, mildly curious of her actions.
“Look, Clark. Chloe is like a sister to me. If I thought for one second that she was still interested I’d have backed off way sooner.”
“Wait a minute. Lois. What are you talking about?”
Lois hit the redial button and smiled sympathetically with her hand held over the mouth piece of the phone. “Chloe told me that she was over you. She said that she’d given up. I had no idea, Clark. Judging by her reaction, she’s quite clearly still in love with you.”
The dial tone became a steady trill that signaled the ringing of the phone. Lois held the receiver to her ear and waited for the recipient to answer her call. She spoke after three rings.
“Hello, Martha. It’s Lois. I think you and Jonathan need to come home. It’s Chloe. There’s been a bit of an accident.” She fished around the top of the bureau in the hall trying to locate her keys and plucked her jacket from the coat rack. The phone was tucked under her chin.
Clark shook his head and did the only thing he could. He stumbled to the door on his hands and knees and screamed as loud as he could.
“Chloe.”
There was that voice again. She was sure she’d heard it. Chloe’s head turned on instinct.
The day was moving into the night. The sun was low in the sky, heralding the arrival of the moon. Chloe knew she had to think logically about her actions. Lois and Clark would be looking for her. Her feet slowed and her legs reciprocated. She hunched over and rested her elbows on the tops of her thighs. She knew she had to turn retreat. She had to turn around and go back. The night air would bring a chill. She couldn’t afford to get sick.
She inhaled and caught her breath and then took a few steps forward. Her body slumped against the old oak tree trunk as she sorted through her emotions.
“Face Clark,” she said out aloud. “Face Lois, and tell them that it’s okay. That I understand. Clark is my best friend. I owe him that much.”
She toed the dirt beneath her feet. She’d barely had time to throw on her flip flops. Her feet looked dirty; her big toe was scraped raw and bleeding. The dirt became soft and crumbly. She knew that the river bank wasn’t far. She rolled the sleeves of her shirt up again. The walk would help to clear her head. She could practice her speech. She would be gracious. Lois would be victorious. So long as Clark was happy. That’s what she told herself.
A muffled voice echoed around her. Chloe stopped. It sounded like laughter and it piqued her interest. Again the gruff baritone chortled. Chloe kept to the tree line as she moved closer to the noise. A dim light caught her eye, like the flicker of a flash light. When she came to the clearing she crouched down trying to remain inconspicuous and out of sight.
There were people, she thought she counted three, but the dark was descending and it was hard to accurately decipher the hazy silhouettes. They moved so frequently that what looked like three might well have been four. Chloe listened to them bustle about, trying to pick out the words from their conversation.
“Definitely what we’re looking for.” The first mysterious man spoke and overwrought amusement passed between them once more.
“ … Boss has a brilliant plan,” the second scoffed.
Chloe frowned and continued to observe. They were handling something, passing it back and forth between them.
At this time of night? Chloe asked herself. Down by the river bank? What were they doing?
Something caught her eye, just a glimmer. Chloe squinted through the dark. Were they panning for gold? Curiosity got the better of her. It sparked that tenacious ferocity, honed after years of investigative prowess. Heel to toe she moved ever so slightly, the undergrowth at her back. Rubber tread threatened the terms of the pursuit. But in her haste, a simple twig cracked and bowed beneath the weight of her body. The sound echoed as she feared it would. And just like that the game was up. She had alerted them to her presence.
Chloe was outnumbered, unprepared and uncertain of her immediate surroundings. Even with the adrenaline to boost her, Chloe was weary. Her time with Jor-El had taken its toll. Two men advanced while the third discharged orders. He seemed determined not to meet kindly with resistance.
Chloe held her breath and stood still. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her hands by her sides. Her fingers twitched like a nervous tick. She was not paralyzed by terror, she realized, but rather motivated to preserve her welfare. She could sense their movements. Footsteps rippled as they drew closer. Chloe’s mouth grew dry. This time she was on her own. This time there would be no Clark to save her.
She was stunned by the rich, shining light that made contact with her retinas. The flashlight being waved in her face was blazing like a beam of adulation. To the victor - his spoil.
“We got us a live one here, Boss.”
The exclamation was met with silence, silence that stretched beyond the threshold of Chloe’s imagination. She closed her eyes and thought about her father. She thought about Lois and Clark.
“Hello, Chloe.”
Somebody stood in front of her. That voice. Chloe reminded herself not to react.
“Well aren’t you a long way from home. And you came without Clark? How very daring, Chloe. I must say I have a lot of respect for you coming out here all alone. That takes guts.”
Chloe inhaled steadily. Her nose whistled and her nostrils flared. She opened her eyes, prepared to meet her captor face to face for the first time. He smiled at her. One side of his smile propped higher than the other - crooked, just as the man himself. She really should have been far more surprised.
“I could ask the same of you, Lex.” Chloe spoke calmly, reiterating his words. “It’s a little late for you to be out and about by yourself - the sick and twisted son of the great Lionel Luther. You’re a liability. Isn’t money buying you piece of mind these days?”
Her words were expelled in rapid succession. Her throat was hoarse and she tried to flick away errant lengths of stray hair that fell across her face; hair that just that very morning had shone like bales of golden straw in the sun. She tried to wrench her elbow back but the long fingers that gripped her wrist offered little give.
Lex slipped his free hand into the pocket of his tailored weave suit pants and stroked his jaw with the other. He seemed to give some thought to her words before his head snapped up and he gazed at her through steely blue lenses.
“I don’t think you’re in much of a position to ask questions. Seems to me that you’re in quite the predicament, Chloe. Imagine that.”
The lining of his pocket was smooth against his skin and his fingers twitched and flexed and he curled them around the rough edges of the grainy crystal burning a hole in the palm of his hand.
Chloe narrowed her eyes and regarded him with silent disdain. Anger rolled from her body in lashing waves and her chest rose and fell to the beat of a staggered drum.
“The good news is that you’re just in time to help with a little project of mine.” He continued on despite her protests, withdrawing the luminous mass of quartz from concealment and unfurling gnarled digits to present the free-formed stone.
Chloe gasped. The brilliant blue sheen was intoxicating. It looked so familiar, and she realized with a pang that but for the color, each and every facet resembled the green Kryptonite that Clark had succumbed to before.
Lex held his smirk, but Chloe’s gaze did not waver.
“It’s blue meteor rock. It has … shall we say … some very intriguing properties.” His voice bubbled and he rocked up onto the balls of his feet, tossing the blue crystal into the air and catching it as it fell back down into the palm of his hand. “And that is why you’re going to help me, Chloe. Because I need a guinea pig, and you’ve just volunteered your services.”
Her leg, the only limb capable of being mobile, lifted and she bent her knee, kicking up dust as the sole of her flip-flop impacted with the earthy patch. Lex chuckled, amused to see predictable reporter that he had anticipated. She’d stumbled upon his little game, but Lex had been prepared, his barrels loaded.
“You won’t get away with this.” She cried out as he pointed to the town car and requested that his associates be polite to their new house guest.
“Chloe,” he smiles, almost kindly, “I already have. Nobody has come to save you. Not even Clark. What happened? Did you two have a fight? I wonder where your savior is right now.”
Her silence spoke for itself.
Lex drove the knife in further, and with a little jimmy, he twisted - “He’s probably off somewhere … no doubt spending his time with Lois.”
Chapter 6
Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Chloe ran. She didn’t know why and she didn’t know where she was going. She knew that she had to lift her knees and that her legs had to keep moving, striding out as the soles of her feet impacted with the unstable ground. Her arms moved too and fro. They swung in the breeze as she dug her toes into the earth, turning the sod. She told herself to go faster through the vegetation
Rows of corn stood like soldiers at attention. Like running across country and into her lover’s arms, she kept her head held high. Thick, hard road rose up to meet her. A flock of lowly birds took flight upon her approach, their wings flapping in the currents their ascension created.
“…Chloe.”
That was Clark. The final vestiges of his voice carried.
Gravestones obscured by time flanked her. Tiny white crosses reaching from the horizon bore silent witness to her freedom.
“…Chloe.”
Clark’s voice seemed further away, barely audible to the unsuspecting.
She remembered her father’s words - ‘When in doubt - follow the river.’
“ … ‘loe … ‘oe…”
Further and further away.
“Clark, what are you doing?” Lois tugged his arm in an effort to turn the bulk of his body so that he was looking at her.
“It’s near on dark,” he spat and pulled his wrist from Lois’ grasp. “Chloe could be anywhere. I’m going to find her.”
“You can barely stand. There’s no way you can walk that far and I’m not dragging your sorry ass back home.”
Clark ignored Lois. Her words did little to comfort him. He knew that Chloe was smart, but he blamed himself. Chloe deserved better than the joke that his life had become.
Lois perched on the arm of the couch and watched Clark as he tried to tie his shoe laces. Loop and swoop. His fingers shook like tremors. The laces swayed like sails in the breeze, and he cursed.
Lois sighed and picked up the phone.
“What are you doing?” He asked, mildly curious of her actions.
“Look, Clark. Chloe is like a sister to me. If I thought for one second that she was still interested I’d have backed off way sooner.”
“Wait a minute. Lois. What are you talking about?”
Lois hit the redial button and smiled sympathetically with her hand held over the mouth piece of the phone. “Chloe told me that she was over you. She said that she’d given up. I had no idea, Clark. Judging by her reaction, she’s quite clearly still in love with you.”
The dial tone became a steady trill that signaled the ringing of the phone. Lois held the receiver to her ear and waited for the recipient to answer her call. She spoke after three rings.
“Hello, Martha. It’s Lois. I think you and Jonathan need to come home. It’s Chloe. There’s been a bit of an accident.” She fished around the top of the bureau in the hall trying to locate her keys and plucked her jacket from the coat rack. The phone was tucked under her chin.
Clark shook his head and did the only thing he could. He stumbled to the door on his hands and knees and screamed as loud as he could.
“Chloe.”
There was that voice again. She was sure she’d heard it. Chloe’s head turned on instinct.
The day was moving into the night. The sun was low in the sky, heralding the arrival of the moon. Chloe knew she had to think logically about her actions. Lois and Clark would be looking for her. Her feet slowed and her legs reciprocated. She hunched over and rested her elbows on the tops of her thighs. She knew she had to turn retreat. She had to turn around and go back. The night air would bring a chill. She couldn’t afford to get sick.
She inhaled and caught her breath and then took a few steps forward. Her body slumped against the old oak tree trunk as she sorted through her emotions.
“Face Clark,” she said out aloud. “Face Lois, and tell them that it’s okay. That I understand. Clark is my best friend. I owe him that much.”
She toed the dirt beneath her feet. She’d barely had time to throw on her flip flops. Her feet looked dirty; her big toe was scraped raw and bleeding. The dirt became soft and crumbly. She knew that the river bank wasn’t far. She rolled the sleeves of her shirt up again. The walk would help to clear her head. She could practice her speech. She would be gracious. Lois would be victorious. So long as Clark was happy. That’s what she told herself.
A muffled voice echoed around her. Chloe stopped. It sounded like laughter and it piqued her interest. Again the gruff baritone chortled. Chloe kept to the tree line as she moved closer to the noise. A dim light caught her eye, like the flicker of a flash light. When she came to the clearing she crouched down trying to remain inconspicuous and out of sight.
There were people, she thought she counted three, but the dark was descending and it was hard to accurately decipher the hazy silhouettes. They moved so frequently that what looked like three might well have been four. Chloe listened to them bustle about, trying to pick out the words from their conversation.
“Definitely what we’re looking for.” The first mysterious man spoke and overwrought amusement passed between them once more.
“ … Boss has a brilliant plan,” the second scoffed.
Chloe frowned and continued to observe. They were handling something, passing it back and forth between them.
At this time of night? Chloe asked herself. Down by the river bank? What were they doing?
Something caught her eye, just a glimmer. Chloe squinted through the dark. Were they panning for gold? Curiosity got the better of her. It sparked that tenacious ferocity, honed after years of investigative prowess. Heel to toe she moved ever so slightly, the undergrowth at her back. Rubber tread threatened the terms of the pursuit. But in her haste, a simple twig cracked and bowed beneath the weight of her body. The sound echoed as she feared it would. And just like that the game was up. She had alerted them to her presence.
Chloe was outnumbered, unprepared and uncertain of her immediate surroundings. Even with the adrenaline to boost her, Chloe was weary. Her time with Jor-El had taken its toll. Two men advanced while the third discharged orders. He seemed determined not to meet kindly with resistance.
Chloe held her breath and stood still. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her hands by her sides. Her fingers twitched like a nervous tick. She was not paralyzed by terror, she realized, but rather motivated to preserve her welfare. She could sense their movements. Footsteps rippled as they drew closer. Chloe’s mouth grew dry. This time she was on her own. This time there would be no Clark to save her.
She was stunned by the rich, shining light that made contact with her retinas. The flashlight being waved in her face was blazing like a beam of adulation. To the victor - his spoil.
“We got us a live one here, Boss.”
The exclamation was met with silence, silence that stretched beyond the threshold of Chloe’s imagination. She closed her eyes and thought about her father. She thought about Lois and Clark.
“Hello, Chloe.”
Somebody stood in front of her. That voice. Chloe reminded herself not to react.
“Well aren’t you a long way from home. And you came without Clark? How very daring, Chloe. I must say I have a lot of respect for you coming out here all alone. That takes guts.”
Chloe inhaled steadily. Her nose whistled and her nostrils flared. She opened her eyes, prepared to meet her captor face to face for the first time. He smiled at her. One side of his smile propped higher than the other - crooked, just as the man himself. She really should have been far more surprised.
“I could ask the same of you, Lex.” Chloe spoke calmly, reiterating his words. “It’s a little late for you to be out and about by yourself - the sick and twisted son of the great Lionel Luther. You’re a liability. Isn’t money buying you piece of mind these days?”
Her words were expelled in rapid succession. Her throat was hoarse and she tried to flick away errant lengths of stray hair that fell across her face; hair that just that very morning had shone like bales of golden straw in the sun. She tried to wrench her elbow back but the long fingers that gripped her wrist offered little give.
Lex slipped his free hand into the pocket of his tailored weave suit pants and stroked his jaw with the other. He seemed to give some thought to her words before his head snapped up and he gazed at her through steely blue lenses.
“I don’t think you’re in much of a position to ask questions. Seems to me that you’re in quite the predicament, Chloe. Imagine that.”
The lining of his pocket was smooth against his skin and his fingers twitched and flexed and he curled them around the rough edges of the grainy crystal burning a hole in the palm of his hand.
Chloe narrowed her eyes and regarded him with silent disdain. Anger rolled from her body in lashing waves and her chest rose and fell to the beat of a staggered drum.
“The good news is that you’re just in time to help with a little project of mine.” He continued on despite her protests, withdrawing the luminous mass of quartz from concealment and unfurling gnarled digits to present the free-formed stone.
Chloe gasped. The brilliant blue sheen was intoxicating. It looked so familiar, and she realized with a pang that but for the color, each and every facet resembled the green Kryptonite that Clark had succumbed to before.
Lex held his smirk, but Chloe’s gaze did not waver.
“It’s blue meteor rock. It has … shall we say … some very intriguing properties.” His voice bubbled and he rocked up onto the balls of his feet, tossing the blue crystal into the air and catching it as it fell back down into the palm of his hand. “And that is why you’re going to help me, Chloe. Because I need a guinea pig, and you’ve just volunteered your services.”
Her leg, the only limb capable of being mobile, lifted and she bent her knee, kicking up dust as the sole of her flip-flop impacted with the earthy patch. Lex chuckled, amused to see predictable reporter that he had anticipated. She’d stumbled upon his little game, but Lex had been prepared, his barrels loaded.
“You won’t get away with this.” She cried out as he pointed to the town car and requested that his associates be polite to their new house guest.
“Chloe,” he smiles, almost kindly, “I already have. Nobody has come to save you. Not even Clark. What happened? Did you two have a fight? I wonder where your savior is right now.”
Her silence spoke for itself.
Lex drove the knife in further, and with a little jimmy, he twisted - “He’s probably off somewhere … no doubt spending his time with Lois.”
Chapter 6