Dreaming the Wolf - Chapter 21
Title: Dreaming the Wolf
Rating: R
Category: Angst
Summary: After the events of Freak, Chloe finds herself changed more than she thought possible. A spin on the classic tale of girl becomes werewolf.
Spoilers: I haven't been actively watching SV for a long time now, so anything goes and I take liberties. This is set after the episode Freak and careens madly and gleefully towards AU.
Disclaimer: If I owned anything, then there would be no need for me to write fanfic or read it.
Chapter 21
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it’s wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always gotten there first, and is waiting for it.”
Terry Pratchett
Mercy gripped the steering wheel tightly. Her eyes narrowed, her heart raced, and the crushing weight of her complete failure was the only thing she knew. The men in the car had long since stopped trying to speak with her. Her urgency was their own. She had been foolish. Weak. “I couldn’t have known. But that thought didn’t give her solace.
She had failed and Lex and Chloe had probably already paid the price. Mercy stepped on the gas pedal and willed the car to go faster. She would not be able to save them, but she could give them vengeance. If she had to, Mercy knew that she would spend a life time hunting them and making them pay.
“I will have their death.”
********
Earlier…
Wesson’s voice was intense in her ears, “Are they worth it?”
Mercy should’ve known. She should’ve figured that he would do…something. Anything. But how was she supposed to know that he would set bombs in a park? Or that the men and women she had assembled for this specific engagement would be rendered useless? There was no accounting for the actions of madmen.
Samuel was not without reason. He wasn’t clueless as to the inner workings of someone like Mercy Graves. He took a deep breath and expelled it.
“Have a seat, Miss Graves.”
Mercy favored him with a look of rage. He knew that feeling. He knew what it was to be so thoroughly manipulated and defeated. Failure was no stranger to him so he could give her this. Samuel had spent a lifetime learning from those lessons so that he didn’t have to feel that way again. And for this reason he could accept her rage. It was the least that he could do.
Kale tapped his briefcase, “Have a seat, Miss Graves. There are things we need to discuss. Besides, even when you do tell me what I want to know, you won’t be allowed to leave until it’s too late,” he graced her with a winning smile, “Indulge me.”
Recognizing that she didn’t have a choice in the matter, Mercy took a seat on the nearby bench. She watched him run his hand through his hair. It was human. It was disarming and she had no doubt that he had fooled many people with simple gestures such as those.
He picked up a twig on the bench and twirled it between his fingers. His gaze on the park. Wesson’s voice was low and infused with a humanity that Mercy could not accept as real, “I won’t presume to know how you feel; nor do I think anything I say will make this better for you. But I will presume to say that I know that you have followed my career, though you didn’t know me.”
Wesson locked eyes with her, “I know you know that I fulfill the terms of service of any given contract I take on and that I honor my promises. I’ll give you one now. No harm will come to her if it is in my power to prevent it,” he continued, “But if you refuse me, I will still take her and these people will die here today.”
Lex was more than her employer. Though Lionel had hired her so many years before to keep his son safe, Lex was a friend. He counted her a friend, which was rare in his life and her own. And Chloe could be a friend.
They weren’t worth it.
********
The night after he and Chloe had dinner, they had to attend a charity event. Lex vaguely recalled that it had something to do with cancer. It didn’t really matter. He’d been to so many in his life and he made regular donations to a variety of charities that the public never knew about. Most of these events were vanity projects anyway and he didn’t afford them more consideration than what was expected of him. Lex wasn’t looking forward to spending another boring night with most of the same boring people. Not after spending a quiet evening with Chloe.
He and Chloe had made real progress. Lex was sure of it. The only thing to truly mar his contentment was the knowledge that Mercy was dealing with the psychotic that had caused them all pain. He trusted Mercy to do her job and to do it well, but his gut was telling him that something was wrong. Lex couldn’t name the feeling nor could he even understand it, but it was there.
After the charity event, he, Chloe and Lana went to one of his hideaway spots in Metropolis. Lex realized that Mercy wanted them out in the open, but Chloe still looked too tense to be around people. It wasn’t like anyone could breach his security. Between his habitual paranoia and Mercy’s more capable one, Lex figured them to be as safe as they could be. Being safe from Tolliver Wesson in the public eye would mean nothing if Chloe went through an involuntary change. Lex would’ve preferred to spend the time alone with Chloe, but Chloe felt it would be cruel to leave Lana alone.
Lex was currently watching the television and going over the various business transactions that required his attention. His business would not wait for his life to become less hectic. Lex turned the television off when he heard someone enter the room. He knew immediately that it was Lana. She didn’t have the strong presence that Chloe possessed; even before the change she didn’t have it.
He didn’t bother to acknowledge her. Lex may have felt some sense of responsibility toward her, but she was in the past. A mistake that he wanted to remove from his life. He didn’t like her, didn’t love her, and now had nothing more in common with her; and because of this, he didn’t want to think of her any more than he had to. There was only go forward with Chloe and she had no place in their future.
Lana’s voice was soft and somewhat breathy. She still carried the weight of whatever was in her, which terrified them all. It was a perversion of life.
“Tonight wasn’t so bad. Not when compared to the ones in the beginning.”
Lex didn’t bother turning around. She wasn’t the one he wanted to talk to.
“No, it wasn’t a bad evening,” he took a measured pause and then turned to face her. She hadn’t really attended many events with him; and when she did, she had clung to him. Lost and needy. The expectation had been for her to be involved with him and his world; and she didn’t even try. Lex had been the one to make the effort. To make sure she was included. It was so different to know that Chloe had hated every minute of the event and was restraining herself as best she could, but she had made the effort. She had been by his side; and when the time had come, Chloe had left and worked the room. He smiled. “Like a pro.”
His train of thought was broken when he heard Lana’s voice again, “When will Mercy get back? She’s been gone all day.”
Lex frowned. Mercy had been gone all day. There hadn’t been any progress report from her or her team. It was worrying, but there was nothing he could do about it. He trusted Mercy and she was smart enough to do what she needed to do. She’d be worthless otherwise.
“I’m sure Mercy is fine. She has more than enough experience to handle any situation,” As Lex said those words, he knew that some kind of comforting gesture was required.
He also knew that he didn’t feel like touching her or otherwise encourage her to stay and talk. Lex had business, Mercy, and Chloe on his mind. And while he would not be unkind to her, he didn’t want to do more than what was required of him.
Lana seemed to sense the mood and left.
A few moments later, Chloe’s voice drifted into the room. Somehow she managed to make her words stern and mocking, “You should not have done that.”
He quickly crossed the distance between them and kissed her. She sighed into his mouth.
“And you probably should not have done that.” Chloe pulled out of his grasp entirely.
Lex was frustrated. He wanted her. All of her; and the knowledge that they were in danger only spurred him. He was lonely without her and he knew that he could forget everything else. Lex could also make her forget. It would be good for them both.
Chloe’s rolled her eyes, but her voice was no longer joking, “Because Lana is still here and I’m not gonna rub her face in this.”
Lex became impatient. She was always considering someone else. If she was going to refuse his advances, then why couldn’t it be because she didn’t it? Why did it always have to be cast in the context of someone else’s feelings? He pulled her into his arms again. This time his kiss was not so soft and she responded for a moment, but then she stopped responding. Chloe bit his lip and grabbed the wrist that cradled her face and held it tightly. Her other hand grabbed his neck and she pushed him away.
When he looked at her, Chloe’s eyes were yellow and he saw a hint of her elongated fangs. Chloe watched as Lex touched his bloody lip. She growled at him and bared her teeth.
Her voice was deep and rumbling. She enunciated every word, “I am not Lana. Or any other woman you’ve been with,” Chloe forcefully calmed herself, “You think I don’t how difficult this is? This hurts, Lex. More than you know, this hurts.”
Chloe touched his lips, “I can’t hurt her, Lex. It isn’t just me trying to be noble. It’s the wolf inside not wanting to hurt her. And I agree with that deep instinctual push. Besides, I know how badly I felt when I found out about her and Clark. I won’t do that.”
She was right of course. Lex knew it and he knew that she knew that he knew it.
“I’m sorry. Forgive me?”
Chloe smiled, “You never need to ask, Lex. It’s always yours.”
Lex saw that she was going to say more, but her entire demeanor changed. She was on guard. Her entire body was tense and poised for action. Before he knew what happened he found himself on the ground with Chloe on top of him. It took him a few moments to process the fact that he was currently hearing gun fire.
Chloe’s mouth was close to his ear. Her words were soft, “Lex, what happened to your monitors? How could they have been breached?”
Lex could hear the worry and fear in her voice. It should not have been possible. His perimeter was manned and he multiple redundant systems. His security here was even better than at his mansion. Both of them heard Lana’s piercing scream. Before Lex could prevent her, Chloe was running to Lana.
He saw her go down with multiple red points in her back. His panic made him see blood, but they were feathered. “Tranquilizers.”Miraculously, Lex saw her stand and pull some of the darts out. He heard her voice. It was frantic, “Lex, where can we go?”
Crouched, he slowly made his way to her. They weren’t cornered, but it was only a matter of time before they were. They had to leave the room. Lex drew her close to his body and put his mouth to her ear, “There’s a basement exit. It leads to a tunnel that goes directly to the garage. We can make it, but we have to hurry.”
Chloe turned her head until she was facing him again, “What about Lana?”
His voice was hard and uncompromising, “We’ll worry about her later. You heard her scream. We can do nothing for her if we’re caught ourselves.”
“We can’t leave her!”
Lex grabbed her face with one hand and forced her eyes to his own, “She’s nothing, Chloe. We can’t help her. We’ll retreat, regroup, and get her back later if we can. We can’t help anyone if we’re captured ourselves. Now move to the cellar!”
Instincts pushed her to obedience. He was right. Their survival mattered. She nodded once and darted forward. Lex followed as he was able. They quickly found the entrance to the tunnel. Escape was theirs. Chloe should’ve been relieved but she wasn’t. She heard the pounding boots and smelled gun oil before she ever saw them. A loud bang followed by flash obscured her vision. Chloe felt more darts impact her chest and she was down. Unconsciousness claimed her before she knew what happened to Lex.
********
The first thought Lex had when he woke up was concern for Chloe. He gingerly turned his head on the pavement, but deep inside he knew she wasn’t there. The second thought was that he was going to kill the person holding him and making sure that he wasn’t badly injured. He pushed Mercy away and slapped her. He would’ve done more, but she neatly swept his legs and held his arms so that he could barely move.
Mercy expected this. She knew where Wesson would have his mean attack. “The route of escape.” It would’ve been an artistic flourish that Wesson could not have resisted.
Her voice was broken and he knew that she was crying or was about to, “I’m sorry, Lex.”
Lex yelled in impotent fury, “Get off me!”
Mercy released him, but she quickly brought her gun up. Only then did Lex realize that he was surrounded by her men; and while he may have paid their checks, they weren’t going to move against her without good reason. Apparently, the fact that she had betrayed him was not good reason.
He turned on his heels back towards the cellar entrance, but Mercy’s men closed ranks. They weren’t letting him. His body vibrated with fury and hurt and betrayal and other things he couldn’t name.
“Why are you here?” Lex was yelling but he didn’t care.
“Let me explain,” Mercy’s calm, reassuring voice served to enrage him further. He didn’t think it was possible; but apparently it was.
“I trusted you! Chloe trusted you! How could you do this?”
Mercy dropped her gun and strode to his side and reciprocated his yell, “He had bombs, Lex! At the damned meeting place! Tell me you or Chloe would’ve had me make the choice to see a lot of kids dead!” she took a deep breath. The fight drained out of her but she continued, “If I had thought, for one minute, that you would’ve actually wanted me to make that choice, I would never have agreed to work with you. If you want to indulge in hate for me, go ahead. It’s a consequence of the choice I made and I can live with that. But, Lex, we still have a chance. This doesn’t have to be the end.”
Mercy’s voice lowered in deadly promise, “If she’s dead, I’ll do whatever it takes to make them pay.”
Lex took a deep breath and nodded once. Their relationship had irrevocably changed, but he couldn’t fault her. As much as he wanted to he couldn’t fault her for this.
“Then let’s start now.”
********
“We’ve lost a day, Mercy!” Lex was beyond patience. It had been worn down.
They had Chloe’s notes, they had their own notes, and they had the notes of their techs. Even Lois had input despite the fact that she didn’t have much knowledge. She was helpful, but clueless and everyone kept it that way. She was only a hindrance. It was hard to keep her away, but in the end, she had agreed to stay out of the way. Of course, well placed threats probably swayed her more than anything else.
They cross-referenced, checked everything and then checked it again. Their list of possible places that she could’ve been held were refined and vetted until they found one likely place. The only thing left was to go there and rescue Chloe. And Lana. Despite this, everyone in the room knew that it was a trap.
Mercy rolled her eyes. She knew how much he cared for Chloe, but being careless would not help the situation.
“And we’ll lose many more unless you can control yourself, Lex,” Mercy tightened her lips, “You should tell the Kent boy. You and I both know that he has more going for him than he would let anyone believe.”
“What makes you think he would work with us instead of going off and doing something stupid?”
“Because Chloe’s life is in danger. I see no reason why we can’t use that to our advantage in persuading him.”
Lex thought it over. It could work. He loved Chloe. If they made it clear she could die if he didn’t work with them, then he was certain that Clark would capitulate.
It didn’t take as long as he thought it would to get Clark on board with the plan. He even had valuable insight. The planning process was arduous and intense, but the stakes were high. He wouldn’t fail Chloe. Mercy and her team were going to wait outside the facility, while Lex and a few select men went inside.
Mercy had to coordinate everything and Lex refused to not be a part of getting Chloe back. Clark was going to distract everyone. No one knew the full extent of his abilities, but they knew he was exceptional. All of them were forced to accept it.
********
Samuel Kale knew their facility had been breached when one of Serena’s more stable charges pulled the alarm. The man really couldn’t do anything about the invaders, but he didn’t need to. His job was only to report. Serena was elsewhere so it was up to him to make sure that his enemy did not succeed.
Kale wasn’t surprised when he came upon Clark Kent. If he had to, he would guess that Kent was to be the distraction. That’s the way he would’ve used the boy. A meat shield to absorb bullets and traps.
He had been busy ever since he had seen Clark Kent and realized his fundamental weakness. Serena wanted him to enhance security of her facility and he would do just that. As Clark Kent stalked towards him, Kale felt the heady sensation of anticipation. It was time to test the boy’s mettle.
Kale let Clark get within five feet of him. As soon as that happened, Kale put on a gas mask and ear plugs and then threw a flashbang, a grenade that both blinded and deafened an opponent. Clark drew back. He was deafened and he couldn’t see. When Kale saw that the boy was no longer moving forward, he took out his smoke grenade. This was his pride and joy. Serena had looked at him for two heartbeats before laughing and telling him that he had the most amazing mind. He took it as the compliment it should’ve been instead of the slight insult that her voice had indicated.
While the boy was still blind and deaf, Kale threw his modified smoke grenade. Instead of the usual mixture of potassium chlorate and friends, he had added finely ground green meteor rock. After the grenade impacted the ground and its contents filled the air, the boy’s response was immediate. He screamed and began clawing at his eyes. Then he dropped to his knees and began convulsing.
Clark had never known pain like this. His eyesight had begun clearing and his ears weren’t ringing anymore. As soon as he thought the worst was over, he began feeling the effects of kryptonite. He looked over at the man and his eyes filled with green mist. His lungs burned and he couldn’t breathe. There was no part of him that wasn’t hurting. Clark realized that he was breathing kryptonite. He dropped to his knees. He couldn’t get away from it and his enemy was bearing down on him.
Kale put his hands in his pocket and withdrew brass knuckles, which weren’t brass at all. Serena had a rather large piece of meteor rock and he persuaded her to let him have half of it. She agreed. He figured she relented easily because she really wanted to see what he would do with it. Serena had not been disappointed. While he was no gem carver, he knew someone who could approximate one admirably. That piece of meteor rock became his knuckles. Clark Kent was in for one painful round of boxing and he’d be the one to deliver it.
While Clark was still on his knees, pain exploded on the side of his face. And again to his ribs. He felt blood.
Clark heard a cold voice that was muffled by a mask, “How does it feel, Mr. Kent? How does being mortal like the rest of us feel?”
Clark threw out his hands and caught the fist of the man hitting him, but he drew away when he felt a cut. Kale had twisted the kryptonite knuckle. They weren’t entirely smooth so it caused a cut to the hand of Clark. The response was instantaneous. Green veins formed and his blood bubbled.
“I do apologize, Mr. Kent. I failed to introduce myself before. I am Tolliver Wesson.”
Clark lunged forward and tackled him. Kale might not have been as strong as Clark but he was smarter. The boy was going to attempt to remove his mask, but he was going to fail. Clark fought with desperation and it gave him fuel to overcome the weakness brought by kryptonite. Clark drew back to administer punch to Kale’s face when he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. He looked down. There was a shard of kryptonite embedded there. Kale pushed the boy off and stood. He looked down at his bent head.
“Your first mistake, Mr. Kent, was not planning. If you continue to use your strength to the detriment of your mind, you will never win. The educational system of this town insists that you have one. Your second mistake was to lead with your face. And your third, which is undoubtedly your most grievous, was to assume that you were invincible. Every man has a weakness. Every man can be hurt. Never forget that.”
Clark looked up. He couldn’t understand what was happening. It almost seemed like this man was letting him go, but that couldn’t be right. This man had killed Lionel. Had hurt Lex.
Kale saw the bewildered expression on the boy’s face, “No, Mr. Kent, today is not the day you die. I have other things to do and no time to end you. Come for me again when you’re a big boy. But know that you won’t walk away. I’ll kill your mother and then I’ll kill you, Mr. Kent. You and I, we’re done. You have nothing to fear from me until the day you become a threat. Pray that that day never comes.”
With that, Kale lobbed a stiff uppercut to Clark’s jaw. He heard the satisfying sound of his jaw breaking. Clark Kent would never make this mistake again. He had to get to Serena and make sure the boy’s little friends didn’t make too much of a mess of things or he would have killed him.
As Kale left Clark, he began whistling the theme from the Mighty Mouse cartoon. Irony was bitter and merciless. Kale turned the corner and ran to where he knew the next incursion would be. “Sorry, Miss Sullivan. He won’t be saving the day.”
********
Lex ran through the labyrinthine halls. He had been such a fool. Chloe had been missing for too long.
Lex got to a cell and he looked in the strategically placed window. It held the most precious possession fate had given him. “Chloe.” Lex quickly opened the door. Clark would only be able to give him a small window. He had to assume that he didn’t have as much time as he thought he did. It was the only way to ensure that he did what he needed to do.
He swept into the room and looked at her. She was gaunt and barely aware. Here eyes were unfocused. Lex reached a hand out to touch her and she jerked back. Violently and in terror. Her whimper echoed on the walls and it tore at him.
Speaking softly and slowly he reached for her again, “Chloe. It’s me, Lex. You know me. I’m here now. It’ll be ok.”
He softly crooned and she let him near. His hand touched bare skin and he felt her trembling. Lex put his gun down and touched her face. She leaned into it and he felt her exhale strongly. Her nose flared. She was trying to capture his scent. Chloe groaned softly.
Lex ran his hand through her hair, “That’s it. You know me. You know me.”
She looked at him and a flicker of awareness passed through her eyes. She spoke softly, weakly, “Lex.” “Mate. Safe.”
“It’s me, Chloe. Can you move? We have to leave.”
He wished that he could give her time…that she could get used to this, but there was no time. They had to leave and it had to be now. After her first few, faltering steps, it became apparent that she would need to be carried. Lex put the gun in the holster at his side. He wouldn’t be able to carry it and her. He cursed this hindrance. It became all the more important that he move quickly.
“Please let Clark be able to hold them off.”
Lex didn’t know if who he was directing his prayer to, but he fervently hoped that it was heard. Moving slowly, Lex gently picked her up. She sighed in his embrace and put her ear to his chest above his heart. They would pay for hurting her.
There was five blissful minutes of hope. Hope that he could get her away from this place. But bliss never lasts and sometimes the good guy lost. It was a lesson he learned the day the meteor shower came and life had hammered that fact home throughout his life. He could taste victory. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel. They had been so close to the end and freedom, but the click of a gun’s safety halted that. Lex knew that it was done on purpose. He knew it was done to alert him to the presence of his enemy.
A strident male voice called to him, “It’s finally nice to meet you properly, Mr. Luthor. Your father didn’t enjoy those words when I spoke them and I doubt you will either.”
“I can pay you whatever you want.”
Samuel tilted his head to the left and regarded the younger Luthor. It hadn’t escaped his notice the way that the man held Chloe Sullivan. He could recognize love. It was in the way that she was so comfortable and pliant against him. It was the way that Luthor’s knuckles tightened on her form where he gripped her. Not enough to hurt her, but enough to show possession.
Kale spoke his words calmly and with sincerity, “I see that you have finally seen the beautiful and worthless Lana Lang as the useless, pathetic woman that she is. Good for you. I honestly believe that you were wasted on her. As much as I want to let you leave, I simply cannot allow that. Your money means nothing to me. If it did, Daddy Dearest would still be alive. You can walk away, Lex. It’s almost over for her. She’ll be returned to you. I promise it.”
Samuel honestly meant what he said. He couldn’t kill the girl even if he wanted to. Serena had given her word and she would keep it. There was only one more thing to do and Chloe would be returned.
Lex could’ve killed this man with his bare hands. This bastard had hurt Chloe and was offering him some sort of deal. He could fake it. Lex gently lowered Chloe to the ground. He felt the moment that lucidity returned to her. It wasn’t much, but there was an imperceptible muscle twitch. He hated to ask her to summon the strength to get them out of this situation, but it was the only way.
Chloe still felt the drugs in her system and she was weak, but there was a sluggish awareness crawling through her. When she felt the comforting warmth of the one she loved most in the world let her go, anxiety ripped through her. Chloe took stock of the situation. There was a man pointing a gun at Lex and she was on the floor. But she had a slight advantage. No one was paying attention to her.
Summoning the dregs of what remained of her strength, Chloe lunged at the man with the gun. Conventional wisdom said that she would go for the gun itself, but a man like this one saw that coming even when he didn’t actually see it coming. Chloe went for his legs and heard a sickening pop. The tackling blow didn’t have much strength but it might give Lex a chance to do something.
Kale could’ve cursed his unforgivable lapse in common sense. Of course Chloe would still be able to do something. She’d been proving it. Instead of pushing Chloe away, Kale held on. No way was Lex Luthor anywhere near being a good enough shot to risk firing at Kale. Not with Chloe in his arms. And he was definitely not going to deliberately target Chloe in the hopes of getting to Kale. Kale thought he should take the risk, but Luthor was letting emotion cloud his judgment. Kale didn’t blame him for it, but he also wasn’t going to let it stop him from exploiting the weakness.
Chloe pushed away from Kale. For one glorious, blessed moment Lex Luthor had a clear shot and he was going to take it. Quick on the heels of that thought was the realization that his enemy also had a clear shot. His enemy had anticipated such a shot. Lex felt a bullet impact his gut and heard the distant thud as Chloe hit the wall hard.
Kale cursed himself. He was so sloppy. A gut shot was a brutal and hateful shot. More so than any other because it was never a quick and clean death. Glancing to the side where Chloe had landed, Kale removed a tranquilizer dart from his breast pocket. He threw it into her thigh. Kale turned his attention to Lex. The man was on his knees and trying valiantly to raise his gun with numbed hands.
Blood dribbled down his chin to splash onto the hard concrete. Lex let no moan escape him. No begging words for mercy left his lips. Lex let his eyes fall onto the still form of Chloe. “At least she won’t see.” But even then whatever higher being existed mocked him because her eyes opened and met his own. He wished that she would look away or that he could but neither would turn from this reality. It was an impossibility. He was going to die and she was going to watch.
Kale watched the byplay between Lex Luthor and Chloe Sullivan. For one moment he faltered. In their eyes he saw himself and Marissa, but then the place inside that made him such a good hit-man surfaced. This was a job and he was going to complete it. Kale raised his gun and fired twice into Lex’s chest. Lex landed on his back in a sprawl...a graceless heap. Unseeing eyes staring at the ceiling. Blood pooled from beneath him. His heart relentlessly working. It hadn’t yet got the message that the body was dead.
Samuel Kale gave Lex Luthor the only thing he could give him. The only mercy that was within him to give. He gave kid Luthor an open casket funeral. And for the first time in his life, Kale felt regret for killing someone else. Casting a last glance to the body of Lex Luthor, Samuel turned away. His gait lacked its normal confidence and swagger. This wasn’t what he wanted. Not this time.
He eased his body down the wall and gathered Chloe in his arms. Samuel put his nose in her hair and gave her a kiss. He whispered, “It’s not so bad.”
Time seemed to stop and then reverse itself to when he was smaller. Weaker. The first time he heard those words was when his mother held him the first time his father had hit him. “It’s not so bad, my beautiful boy.” And then she had left him in his room. It had hurt badly, but he could never admit that. Not to his mother and not to himself because it meant that it was true. He didn’t want it to be true; and eventually, it was never true. It was never so bad. Maybe it would be that way for her one day.
Samuel cradled Chloe in his arms like Luthor had only moments ago. He was just as gentle. She wouldn’t appreciate it. His embrace was a stain and she would fight fang and claw to ensure that he never touched her, but some things never turned out the way you wanted. Nothing hurt so bad after that first all consuming hurt. There were only endless aches.
He walked out of the facility, knowing that the other threats were neutralized. Everything was silent. Only the echoing sound of the death cry of dashed hopes and unfulfilled lives remained. Normally he could find peace in a traumatizing cacophony or an oppressive silence, both pregnant with some sort of dark omen in their own way; but not this time.
The unsettling feeling of remorse may have invaded him, but it would never stop him from doing what needed to be done. Serena trusted and valued him. Everyone who had ever hired him trusted him and valued him in some way, but Serena truly felt those things. Samuel understood that his fundamental need in life was to be trusted and valued. It was what made this world real to him; and from there he could feel the emotions that made everyone human. To lose that would make him nothing.
Samuel’s voice was a mere whisper that lanced through the empty hallways, “It’s not so bad.”
And it wasn’t. The same man that walked into that place walked out. Nothing had changed.
Back to Chapter 20
Onward to Chapter 22