Chlark Fanfic: The Fallen Sky, Chapter 9
Another update! Hopefully the next two chapters will deal with the rest of Beast (That Phone Call - sob!), Injustice & Failsday, and then we can get back on track with Present Day Chlark.
Enjoy!
Title: The Fallen Sky
Author: BabyDee1
Pairing: Chlark
Rating: PG/NC17
Warnings: Major angst up ahead. Brace yourselves.
Timeline: S.8 (Hex-Doomsday & beyond; this chapter exploring Beast)
Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.
Summary: Months after walking away from her in Doomsday, Clark returns to Chloe…but finds that she’s a changed woman from the one he left behind.
Feedback: …always welcome. J
Awesome banner by ellashy.
Read previous chapter here.
Read story from the beginning here.
Chapter 9
In Too Deep
“You’ve been caring for Davis Bloome in your basement?” Dr Hamilton echoed incredulously.
Chloe focused on the dashboard and avoided his disbelieving stare. She knew she must sound like a complete nut, but she didn’t want to see the judgement in his eyes. She acknowledged his query with a brief nod.
“Who else knows about this?” he asked.
“No-one,” she replied quietly. “Not even Oliver. I came to you directly because you’re the only person I could turn to for a cure.” Her lips lifted in a listless smile. “Web MD isn’t exactly forthcoming on intergalactic infections.”
Dr Hamilton gave a long, drawn-out sigh. “I am glad that you came to me,” he said hesitantly after a long pause. “But …” he gave the bagged water bottle she’d given him a pessimistic frown. “There’s only so much I can do with DNA from a few cells. I need the subject in person to carry out a full, in-depth analysis.”
Chloe grimaced and shook her head. Davis would never agree to that. “That’s not gonna happen,” she said lowly.
The doctor sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose beneath his glasses.
“I can run some preliminary tests on the saliva,” he said at last. “But Chloe…are you sure this is something you want to take on alone?”
Of course she wasn’t sure. She was terrified out of her skin, but there really were no other viable options, unless she wanted anyone’s death on her conscience; which she didn’t.
“I’ll be fine,” she replied hollowly, reaching for the door handle. “Call me when you get the results.”
He nodded, and she stepped out of the car and onto the pavement. Dr Hamilton drove away from the kerb, casting her a furtive glance as he did so.
Chloe couldn’t blame him. From the second she’d told him she was hiding Davis Bloome, he’d been looking at her as if she were certifiably crazy, and she was beginning to think that maybe she was.
But she wasn’t as concerned with what he thought of her for harbouring a killer than she was with what he might be able to discover with the traces of Davis’s DNA that she’d given him. If he could somehow isolate the cells which transformed Davis into the beast from his basic composition, then he could focus on a cure that would silence the monster permanently without harming the man. She wouldn’t have to worry about him killing Clark, and this whole terrifying ordeal could be over. It was a long shot, but at least, there was a small sliver of hope.
Her brief optimism faded as soon as she turned around and saw Davis standing on the street corner, his eyes red and feral.
“Davis!” she gasped, ushering him into the shadows. “What are you doing out here?”
“Who was that?” he asked shakily. “Who were you talking to?”
“No one, it’s just a friend,” she reassured him quickly. “Now, you know shouldn’t be outside, what’s happening?”
He shook his head, his shoulders trembling. “Nothing helps,” he grated. “I tried looking at photos of you; I tried holding strands of your hair…nothing works.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked fearfully.
He took a deep, shuddering breath. “This…this thing inside me starts to claw its way out of me as soon as you leave,” he whispered desperately. “Chloe…I can’t be away from you now.”
***
Oh God, no. This was the one thing she was hoping wouldn’t happen. She thought she’d have more time, but he was degenerating faster than they could find a cure. She swallowed hard and tried to put on a brave face as she ushered Davis off the street and out of view of curious eyes.
“I need to show you something,” she said quickly, steering him into the Talon and locking the door behind her. Once inside the basement, she unearthed the newspaper from her handbag.
“Look at this,” she said, indicating the headline. “You are now Metropolis’s own Cornfield Killer. Now, I didn’t tell you about this earlier because I didn’t want to upset you, but the police are hunting for you as we speak.”
Davis stared at the paper in horror. “And by accepting your help, I put you directly in their crosshairs,” he whispered. “What have I done…?”
“Only if someone finds you - which they won’t, because I won’t let that happen,” she promised. Of course, she had no idea what would save them if Davis were discovered; she just couldn’t let herself think like that. As long as she kept him with her, he was off the streets and people were safe.
And Clark was safe.
“But what about when the cops find you, what then?” he argued.
“Then we leave,” she blurted out. “We load up the car and never look back.”
Davis stared at her as if she’d completely lost her marbles. Which she probably had done; running away with Davis was supposed to be Plan Z; surely things couldn’t be that desperate already?
Yet they clearly were.
Davis stood and paced wildly. “You’ve done more for me in a few weeks that anyone has ever done for me in my entire life, Chloe,” he finally said. “I can’t ask you to run away with me.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re not the one asking,” she said with a lot more bravado than she actually felt.
He stared at her through narrowed yet hopeful eyes. “If you do this,” he said carefully, “…you won’t be able to say goodbye to anyone; even Clark. Can you do that?”
At the thought of a life without Clark, Chloe almost fainted. She couldn’t say goodbye to Clark; she needed him like she needed to breathe. He was her life, her love. The only thing that scared her more than walking away from him was losing him for good, and it was bound to happen if Davis stayed here a moment longer. This morning had proved that Clark’s presence affected Davis even when he could neither see nor hear Clark, and the compulsion in Davis to destroy him was stronger than his attachment to her.
She would do what she had to. She would do anything to keep Clark alive, even if it meant shackling herself to a serial killer for the rest of her own life.
“Can you honestly tell me,” Davis went on, “…that I am the most important person in your life?”
Chloe swallowed and went to stand in front of the person who held Clark’s life and death in his hands, and stared him down.
The most important person in her life, hands down, was Clark. And the image of him bloodied, eviscerated and crudely ripped in half was still fresh in her mind, and she was determined it would never, ever be a reality.
Keeping Clark alive was all that mattered. She imagined his earnest, smiling face, and it gave her the strength to say what she said next.
“I would do anything for you,” she said aloud. Because for Clark, there was nothing she wouldn’t do, no matter what it cost her.
Davis, completely oblivious to her real thoughts, nodded and stroked his jaw. “Then maybe this is our chance to start over,” he said, nodding thoughtfully. “Let’s leave Smallville.”
***
Let’s leave Smallville.
With those three words, the finality of Chloe’s actions finally hit her square in the face.
She was turning her back on everything she’d ever known…and putting herself in the hands of a serial killer.
Despite the confidence with which she’d offered to be Davis’s travelling companion earlier, this really hadn’t been the plan.
“Okay…so this is actually happening,” she said before realising that she’d actually spoken aloud. “I, er…I just need to close a few accounts and dead ends paper trails, but we can be on the road by sundown.”
She walked on unsteady feet towards the door and pulled her car keys out of her bag. “Stay in the basement until I return, okay?” she instructed. “I won’t be long.”
He nodded, and she left and waited until she heard him bolt the door behind her. Then she ran to her car, fired up the engine and zoomed off down the road towards Metropolis and the Isis Foundation.
Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, she used the other to shove her hands-free unit in her ear and dial Dr Hamilton.
“Leave a message,” was the curt instruction from his voicemail.
“Emil? It’s Chloe. Something’s come up, and I’m on my way into Metropolis now, but I need you to get to your lab, and fast. I’m running out of time; I need that cure, and I need it now.”
She hung up the call and floored the gas pedal, muttering a quick prayer that Emil could somehow come up with the miracle cure she needed.
***
It took well over an hour for her to get to Metropolis, and another hour and a half before Emil contacted her with his findings. The bleak expression on his face told her everything she needed to know; he didn’t have an answer for her just yet.
But she couldn’t take that from him. She needed results.
“I’m down to my last card, Emil, and I really don’t want to play it,” she said desperately to the tired-looking figure on her screen. “So please take another look at the samples, there has to be a cure.”
“His nuclei are in a constant state of mutation,” he repeated wearily. “I tried to destroy a cell, and somehow it got stronger.”
Yes, that sounded just like Davis, she thought bitterly.
“Can you test it again? Maybe with a stronger reagent?” she pressed.
“No can do, I’m all out of DNA. I couldn’t lift much off that bottle.”
Chloe sighed and ran a nervous hand through her hair. “Well, you said you wanted to see him in person; how about I bring him down to your lab?” she offered, but he immediately shuddered and shook his head.
“Frankly, I don’t want him anywhere near me.”
“He’s not always a monster!” she argued. “Something is keeping him from transforming.”
He fixed her with an odd look. “Well, sometimes dramatic changes to the body are caused by intense emotions…,” he explained. “Love, hate…” he paused. “Obsession.”
And there was her answer. As she suspected, the only thing stopping him from turning into the monster…
…was her.
“Chloe…we need to warn people about this,” Emil said, but she shook her head.
“You’ve seen what happens when he gets mad, Emil,” she said miserably. “I can’t take that chance with people’s lives. As long as I’m with him, he’ll remain human, and no-one will be in any danger.”
The doctor sighed and shook his head before lacing his fingers and staring back at her.
“Well, if you do have this power over him, then it’s all on you,” he said regretfully. “You’re the only cure.”
***
Chapter 10…