Nexus continuity

[hero_farmboy]

It's the day before Valentine's Day. To Clark, however, it's just another day. In fact, chances are it hasn't even occurred to him that it's nearing on any sort of special occasion. As far as he's concerned, he and Anna are just meeting Chloe and Jimmy for a cup of coffee and small talk at the Talon. Nothing special

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[hero_farmboy]

"Let go of me," Lana all but spits at Anna, flailing helplessly against the taller woman.

Clark eyes Lex and the gun with nothing short of outright amusement. "You don't want to do that. You can't win. You don't even know the rules of the game."

When Lex doesn't back down, Clark sidesteps the gun and shoves Lex hard through a glass plate and up against a barn wall, hand wrapped around Lex's throat. "If I'd have known who you were going to turn out to be, I never would have saved you on that bridge."

Lana continues to struggle against Anna. "Clark stop it! You're killing him!"

[downsidedarling]

"Fucking hell, woman, do you have a death wish?" Anna gives the shorter girl a hard shove in the direction of away. "Safety tip: don't get in between the two-hundred-pound farmboy on PCP and the pissed-off jealous rich kid with the gun. Neither one of 'em is going to have the greatest control over who they end up maiming."

This doesn't stop her, of course, from turning towards the scuffle herself. Lex, madly scrabbling for a weapon, picks something up - Anna can't quite see what - and stabs Clark in the side with it.

Fortunately for Clark's secret, if not for his health, this action exactly coincides with Anna spotting a familiar lead box on a nearby shelf, picking it up, and flipping open the lid. She holds the whole contrivance in one hand on the opposite side of her from Lana, effortlessly adjusting her body language so it looks as though she intends to use it as a simple bludgeon.

"Clark," she says, her tone warning but sympathetic.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark, predictably, falls to the ground, convulsing in pain. The look he gives Anna is mostly one of surprise.

Lana runs to Lex and helps him up, although it probably isn't missed by Anna that she sees something on the ground that shocks her before she starts helping Lex toward the door. "Come on, Lex, it's over. Let's go home."

[downsidedarling]

"Sorry, cheri," says Anna regretfully, shutting the lid most of the way and keeping an eye on Clark. "Trust me, it's better than the alternative."

Lex, for his part, is just glad to get out of here with his neck intact. He follows Lana out, already concocting a lie to explain his lack of a vehicle.

[hero_farmboy]

Clark groans and rolls over onto his back, blinking up blearily.

"Anna?"

[downsidedarling]

"Yeah."

She closes the box fully and sets it down, kneeling by Clark and kissing his forehead gently.

"I'm here. They ain't. Got something to say to me?"

At this point, she's not sure what to expect from him. Anything from thanking her for keeping him from murdering Lex to berating her for interrupting his makeout session with Lana seems likely.

[hero_farmboy]

What she gets is confusion, which by this point, she should be familiar with when he starts snapping out of a Red K induced change.

He remembers what happened, of course, but as usual, it's hard for him to reconcile his actions with what he currently knows is the right way to have behaved.

"I don't..." He blinks some more and then attempts to sit up and groans again. "Oh, god, Lana. Lex. Is he all right?"

[downsidedarling]

"Right."

Nod.

"Glad to have you back, cheri. Yeah, he'll be fine - just a little knocked around is all." She speaks this with all the certainty of someone who knows this stuff, because she does.

"Look, we really should talk. You want to come back home with me?" Tiny smile. "Free ride on the Anna Express," she says, holding out a hand. "The fire-move'll make you feel less icky."

[hero_farmboy]

He nods, both in answer to her offer and in acknowledgment that Lex will be okay.

"Yeah, I... really don't want to be here when my mom gets home."