“Oh God,” Lana groaned from her chair. “Don’t you ever get tired of this?”
“Please,” Clark said again, moving around to face her. “Just listen. You have to.” She jerked her head to the side, looking away from him, and he moved around again to her face. It was childish and irritating and she’d been doing it for the last three hours.
“I know your whole story by now,” she grumbled at him. “You haven’t stopped talking about it since you came in here. You’re from another version of Smallville, you say I’m your friend. It’s not bad; you’ve got imagination at least. I would have expected something a lot more believable though.”
“It’s the truth,” he insisted. “Look,” he said, shoving the picture Lana, his Lana, had given to him just a few days ago. “That’s us, me, Chloe, Pete, and you in the Talon. Look at it!”
“Doctored,” she sniffed, not even bothering to give it more than a glance. She snapped her head away again.
“Fine then,” Clark said, his temper starting to fray. He picked up her chair and carried her over to the back of the room. Slamming it down against the wall, he moved his face down until it was a few inches from hers. She stared back at him, not wavering for a moment.
“When you were a little girl, your parents used to take you to the Talon to watch cartoons with them. Your parents met when your mother walked out of a showing of ‘2001’. Do I have to keep going? I know you Lana, why can’t you just admit it?”
“You don’t know me! Stop saying that!” she screamed in response. She threw herself to the side and the chair would have fallen if Clark hadn’t been holding it up. She rocked back and forth screaming at him incoherently as he held onto the chair. Finally he slammed the chair back against the wall and stormed backwards, his teeth grinding together in irritation.
“Fine. Fine!” he had to scream to make himself heard over her. “You want to be like this fine, but I’m not leaving. I can wait this out,” he promised her. He leaned against the wall and stared at her. She quieted down and glared back at him from under her tangled and disheveled hair. It had been a little less than a day since they’d brought her in, but she already looked like she’d been held for weeks. “I can wait,” Clark said again.
The door opened slightly and Pete leaned in. He barely gave Lana a glance before he waved for Clark. “Come’on,” he said simply and stepped back out of the room. Clark hesitated for a moment and then reluctantly followed after him. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Lana. She was smirking at him carelessly. Clark tried to say something, but nothing came, so he shut the door quietly behind him.
Chloe was lying curled up on two chairs outside the cell, sound asleep. He smiled a little as he saw her. Two of Pete’s people were standing there as well, leaning against the wall. Both of them were carrying rifles. As they saw him, they straightened up nervously and waited, eying him. Conscious of their stares, Clark glanced down the hall and saw Pete waiting for him.
“What’s the matter?” he asked quickly as he walked towards him. “Did something happen?”
“No, everything’s fine so far. I just wanted to get you out of there for a bit,” Pete shrugged. He rubbed his throat and said horsely, “You’ve been at it for hours. Give it a rest, you’re not going to make her change her entire life in one day, you know.”
“I don’t have a lot of time left,” he remarked. “We’re starting this in what… a few days?”
“Tonight,” Pete admitted quietly as Clark followed him through the base.
Clark stopped short. “Tonight, but Lex hasn’t even…”
“Lex has already left. He set up everything last night. Aside from a few small things to take care of, we’re good to go.”
“Lex is gone?”
“A few hours ago,” Pete responded. “He can’t keep his dad waiting forever. He said he’d been gone too long as it is.”
“Do you think he’ll suspect anything?” Clark asked worriedly.
“From what Lex has told me, I’d be surprised if he didn’t, but he seemed confident he could throw him off.”
“You don’t seem very worried about it,” Clark said, glancing at him.
Pete stopped and looked at him, shrugging slightly.
“Hey, I know what kind of odds we’re against. Something goes wrong, or there’s something we didn’t think of, this could go south real quick. But Lex has enough to worry about without me pulling him down on this. So if he needs a cheerleader, then I’m there for him. It’s the same way here,” he gestured around them. “Got to always look like things are under control. Doesn’t mean I’m not terrified like everyone else,” he grumbled, continuing on.
Pete led him into a smaller room off to the side of the main floor. Tina was seated at a table inside, photos and sheets of paper spread out all around her. She looked up briefly as they entered and then sank back down dejectedly. Clark smiled at her, but then his attention was turned to the far side of the room. In the corner there was a closed circuit TV balanced precariously on a rusty metal table. Clark stared at the screen until he realized it was a direct shot of Lana’s cell. He could see her tied to the chair in the center of the screen.
“How’s it coming?” Pete was asking Tina.
She shrugged. “It’s boring reading, if my stomach wasn’t doing flip flops I’d probably nod off.”
“You’ll be fine,” he promised her. He squeezed her uninjured shoulder briefly and she gave him a wan smile. “You’re not alone in this.”
“Are you videotaping her?” Clark broke in suddenly. He pointed at the screen. “How long has that been on?”
“Its closed-circuit, not video. And we’ve been watching long enough to wish the mute button still worked,” Pete said. “You didn’t think we were just going to let her out of our sight, did you? She’s dangerous, Clark, maybe even doubly for you,” he added.
“Why is that?” Clark asked him testily.
“’Cause you don’t realize she is,” he told him. “I mean, how many times do you have to get shot for it to sink in? The girl doesn’t want to talk, or make up, or make out.” She wants to kill you, or better yet, drag your ass to LuthorCorp and let them gut you in the name of science.”
“She’s not like that,” Clark warned him. “They did this to her, she’s not… I’d never even believe she was capable of…”
“She’s pulled a lot of triggers, Clark,” Pete said frankly. “I’d say she’s capable of it.” Clark glared at him and Pete stared back, stonily. Tina coughed suddenly and both of them stepped back as they glanced at her. She continued reading without missing a beat. Clark looked down, feeling a little awkward and turned one of the photos around on the table. It was a picture of Lana, taken a few years ago by any indication. She was wearing a white hospital gown and staring dejectedly at the camera. He looked at the other photos and saw that they were all of Lana as well.
“What is all this?” he asked, confused.
“Lana’s life story,” Tina remarked. “Everything from her parents to what she likes on her eggs. Lex pulled it up for me.”
“I guess it helps to know who you’re impersonating,” Pete said slowly, glancing over the sheets of paper.
“If we want to pull this off, that is.”
“How are you going to memorize all this by tonight, Tina?” Clark asked.
She smiled a little. “I have a good memory, almost photographic. It helps when you have to fake what a person looks like from a single glance. Though really, there’s not a lot to go on here. In and out of schools, a lot of martial arts training, lots of therapy, and I mean that in the most liberal sense of the word.” She made a disgusted face. “She’s had a lot of people crawling around inside her head.”
“Too bad they couldn’t find what made her so fucked up,” Pete remarked, idly going over the pages.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“I don’t think they were trying to fix her,” Tina said quietly, “more like make sure she stayed broken.”
“Is that sympathy I hear?” Pete asked, raising an eyebrow. “She shot you, remember? Don’t tell me you’re starting to go in with Clark here.”
“It was easier to hate her when I didn’t have to be in her head,” Tina admitted. She held up one of the papers. “There’s a lot of schools and tutors here, and not a lot else. I mean, I didn’t have much, but I had my mom, and maybe a few other people,” she trailed off quietly for a moment, and then went on, “but Lana, I don’t think she ever had anyone who cared about her.”
“I thought Lionel was sweet on her,” Pete smirked. “At least that’s the impression Lex gave me.”
“Lana wouldn’t…” Clark started
“I don’t know,” Tina shrugged. “If he is, he’s got a funny way of showing it. You know she’s on seven different medications? All with a name as long as my arm. I think they’re supposed to be sedatives or something.”
Pete made a face and glanced at the screen. “You mean this is her doped up? God help us when they wear off.”
“It’s not funny,” Tina told him. He looked back at her, more than a little confused. “She’s got a lot of hurt locked up inside of her,” she said, trying to explain herself. “Maybe because she doesn’t think she has anything else.”
“The files say all that?” Pete asked her a little incredulously.
“No, I got it from watching her. Body language; the way she talks and answers questions, how she acts, it’s all there.”
“Didn’t know you’d get that much from her,” Pete admitted, sounding impressed.
“It’s not just her face I’ve got to fake after all. And speaking of which,” she said getting up. She closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate, and then slowly the skin on her face started to flex and ripple around. Pete frowned a little, but didn’t turn away as she changed gradually. Neither did Clark. When it was over, Tina was gone and Lana stood in her place. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked herself over, pulling her shirt down slightly. She made a disgusted sound in the back of her throat.
“What is it? You mess up?” Pete asked.
“No, I just forgot Lana’s a few inches taller than I am,” she said in Lana’s voice. She tugged at her t-shirt, which was now showing a great deal of skin above her belly button. “There goes my photographic memory claim,” she grumbled.
Clark stared at her and then swallowed dryly. “You look good,” he said slowly, feeling a sudden stab of homesickness. Maybe it was seeing Lana out of a uniform, but it had jarred something in him. When he’d been talking to Lana before, it had been hard to hold onto the girl he remembered, especially when her alternative was so different.
“I’ll pass along the complement,” Tina said dryly.
“I have to ask,” Pete spoke up. “Don’t take this the wrong way,” he cautioned here, “but what does it…”
“What does it feel like?” she half-smiled at him. She touched her face briefly and sighed. “You don’t want to know.” Then she squared her shoulders. “It’s not complete yet.” Giving her shirt a final tug, she left the room, with Pete and Clark following after her. Surprisingly, she led them back to Lana’s cell. Even more surprisingly, when they got there, Whitney was standing in front of the door.
He saw Tina coming towards him and seemed to freeze in place. So did she. The guards at the door jumped to their feet, glancing inside the cell in shock. “Whoa,” Pete jumped ahead of them, raising his hands. “It’s alright. It’s just Tina. Calm down.” The guards stared at him and slowly lowered their guns. Whitney was still standing frozen, staring at her. “It’s Tina, man,” Pete told him quietly, grasping his arm.
“I know it’s her,” he said throatily, staring at her. Tina was staring at the floor, refusing to look at him. Clark touched her shoulder lightly, trying to comfort her. She didn’t respond, but she seemed to turn towards him a little.
“Uh, I just got a message from Lex on a secure line,” Whitney said, clearing his throat. “He wants us to be ready to move in four hours. That’s when Clark goes in.”
“He’s stepping it up,” Pete remarked, frowning.
Too busy staring at Tina; Whitney didn’t seem particularly troubled by the news. “Yeah, I guess so.”
“How’d he sound?” Pete asked. “Worried?”
Whitney blinked and looked at Pete. He shrugged. “He sounded fine. Just said we should hurry.”
Pete frowned, thinking, and then shrugged. “Guess we move in four hours then,” he sighed. “Make sure everyone’s ready,” he nodded to Whitney.
“Uh, sure. Sure,” he said, giving Tina one last glance. He started away slowly, his head hanging down.
Pete looked after him and then at Clark and Tina. “You two going to be ready by then?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Tina said quietly. Clark nodded.
“There’s not much I can do to get ready,” he admitted. “I barely know what I’m walking into.”
“Second thoughts?” Pete asked.
“No use having them when I don’t have a choice.”
Pete nodded slowly. He glanced down at Chloe, still asleep, and then back up at Clark. “You know, maybe there are a few things you should take care of before you go,” he said quietly. Clark looked down at her and nodded his head slightly. Pete smiled and looked at Tina. “Tina?”
She took a deep breath and pushed the door open. Lana glanced up from inside the cell and stiffened up at she caught sight of them. Tina stepped inside and walked forward until she was standing in front of her. Clark swallowed dryly. It was surreal seeing the two of them together. Pete whistled to himself and shook his head. “Damn,” he muttered.
“Do you think you’re really going to fool anyone like that?” Lana hissed. Tina smiled slight and knelt down, until she was on eye level with her. She started to reach out towards Lana, but she flinched away violently. “Get her away from me. I don’t want her touching me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Tina told her quietly. She reached out again and despite Lana’s protests, took hold of her head. She leaned in closer and said, “I just need to look at your eyes for a moment.” Lana promptly shut hers tight. Tina laughed quietly. “Don’t be childish. It’s not going to hurt, and you really don’t have any choice in the matter. Now either open your eyes or I’ll have to pry them open myself,” she said matter-of-factly. “I can do it,” she added. “Very easily.”
Lana opened her eyes again and stared back at her. Tina smiled again and placed her hands on Lana’s temples, moving her head slightly forwards. Lana didn’t resist at all, but she kept her eyes on Tina the whole time. Tina smiled at her and tilted her head a little. “Thank you.” Lana stared back at her flatly, waiting.
Tina gazed into her eyes for a moment, frowning slightly as she concentrated. Neither girl moved for a full minute, hardly even blinking. Then finally, Tina leaned back and stood up. “It’s done,” she told Pete and Clark. Glancing back at Lana, she hesitated and then said, “I’m sorry this has to be this way. Maybe someday, you’ll understand why we’re doing this.”
“Maybe next time, I won’t shoot to wound,” Lana replied coldly. The compassionate look flew off Tina’s face like it had been slapped away. She stared in shock at Lana, her mouth slightly open. “I’m sorry it has to be this way. I hope you can understand why,” Lana finished.
“I think we’ve got enough here,” Pete spoke up. He took Tina’s shoulder and guided her towards the door. She moved slowly, glancing back at Lana once. Lana stared back at her and then looked away at the wall, ignoring all of them completely.
“Forget about her,” Pete said as they left the cell. “She’s not getting out of there.”
“He’s right,” Clark told Tina. She looked up at him and nodded a little. “She’s not thinking straight. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.” Pete rolled his eyes, but Tina nodded again.
“Did you get what you were after?” Pete asked. “We can pull this off?”
Tina took a breath and then gave a hesitant smile. “I think now, maybe we can,” she said slowly. “If I can fool the retinal scanners, I should be able to fool everyone.”
The door crashed open to Lex’s office, rebounding off the wall with a shudder. Lionel caught it with one hand and shoved it back as he stormed inside, snarling in spite of himself. Lex, sitting at his desk, glanced up slowly, smiling a little as he saw his father. He waved to one of the chairs in front of his desk lazily as he leaned back in his own. His father chose instead to stand over his desk, staring down at him, practically quivering with anger.
“I was just going over my mail,” Lex said lightly, lifting up a thin stack of papers and shuffling through them. “Nothing too interesting, I’m afraid. Oliver Queen did invite us to another of his Caribbean pleasure cruises. Do you want to turn him down, or should I do it this time?” he asked conversationally. “Shame though, he might have something interesting this year. We could always pray for a shipwreck.”
“I’m only going to ask this once, Lex,” his father said in a tight, controlled voice. “How long did you think this would fool me?” Lex looked up at him, his expression vaguely curious. “A paternity suit, really. I’m disappointed in you.”
“I didn’t have much time to make up a better one,” Lex admitted, smiling a bit. “For curiosity’s sake, how long did it take you?”
Lionel relaxed a bit and leered at his son. “Two hours, that’s how long it took for me to get your lawyers to admit they didn’t know anything about a paternity suit.” He shook his head in mock-sadness. “You should really hire better people, Lex. I could recommend a number of good law firms.”
“I think by definition any firm you would recommend wouldn’t be a good one,” Lex remarked.
Lionel smiled warmly, and then just as suddenly he was all business again. “Where were you really, Lex?” he demanded.
Lex gazed at his father and judged his mood. No matter how much he might have despised his father, he had studied him obsessively over the years, and he knew the intricate twists of his father’s mind. He was angry with him, but perhaps not as angry as his father made out. He was also curious, but perhaps not as curious as Lex needed him to be. That was the key to turning him off of this. He needed to arouse his father’s natural curiosity, and his suspicion.
“I was out,” Lex said as insolently as he could manage. He watched the sides of his father’s neck flush red and had to fight to keep himself from smiling. He’d never pushed his father this much before, and he still needed to go further. Worse yet, he’d never imagined how much he’d enjoy it. If he didn’t watch himself carefully, he could end up wrecking everything very quickly.
“Out?” his father repeated softly, almost as if to himself. “I’m sorry that this is so boring for you, Lex, that you felt the need to step out for a while,” he continued in the same soft tone. “Maybe next time, I’ll have to have something more important for you to do then locate a missing alien.”
“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” Lex shrugged. He went back to sorting through his mail. “I wasn’t gone for that long, and I did come back.”
“And a more relieved father, you will never find. But I would still like to know where you were.”
Lex looked up at him, hard pressed to keep a smile off his face. “What’s the matter? Don’t you trust me?”
The silence was nearly palpable in the air as father and son stared at each other. Then Lionel broke it by laughing quietly. “Oh, Lex, Lex, Lex,” he sighed, still chuckling. Lex smiled at him, not saying a thing. Sinking into a chair, his father wiped a tear from his eye and shook his head. “So you’re finally going to make your move, are you? This is no false alarm or bit of childish rebellion, this is the real thing, isn’t it? Well, you couldn’t have picked a more appropriate time for it. The company’s threatened, I’m distracted, there’s not much standing in your way.”
“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lex said innocently.
“Oh don’t be coy,” his father said, amused. “I’ve been grooming you for this since I brought you on board. You wouldn’t be fit to run this company after me if you couldn’t take it in the first place.” He laughed again. “And to think, I was worried you might not have learned anything from me.”
“I don’t think anyone could ever teach me more than you have,” Lex told him, realizing as he said it, how true it was. “About business, life, and myself.”
His father blinked and then smiled, seeming genuinely flattered. To cover his momentary embarrassment, he remarked, “So how will you do it, I wonder? What way will you come after me?”
“If I were to do something like that,” Lex pretended to suppose, “it would probably be in a way you’d never suspect.”
“Surprise is the best weapon in war,” his father agreed. “But experience can be a deadly tool as well.” He gazed at Lex for a moment. “So when do you begin?”
As if on cue, there was a steady beeping sound from his coat pocket. Lionel glanced down at it and then up at Lex. He chuckled slightly and reached into his jacket, pulling out a cell phone. “Yes?” he asked quietly. He listened silently for a few moments and then nodded. “I see. I’ll be there in a few minutes.” He closed the phone slowly and put it back into his jacket, smiling all the while. Lex watched him all the while, hardly moving.
“It appears that our good Attorney General has issued a subpoena for most of our company records. And it’s surely a coincidence that our Board of Directors has also made itself unavailable for comment.”
“Surely,” Lex agreed.
“Of course I’ll have to deal with this myself; it’s much too important to leave to an aide,” his father continued. “So of course, you’ll have to be left in charge here.”
“If you feel I’m up to it,” Lex shrugged.
His father smiled at that. “Well, there’s not much left to say, is there? You’ve made your move; it’s up to me to respond. We’ll just have to see if you’re ready for it.” He got up slowly and started to leave. As he reached the door, he stopped and turned back though.
“There’s one thing I have to ask though, first. Lana. Her disappearance wouldn’t have anything to do with this, would it?” his father asked slowly, studying Lex with half-lidded eyes.
“Truthfully, I had nothing to do with Lana’s disappearance,” Lex admitted. His father studied him carefully for a moment.
“Yes, well, I’m sure you’re just as devastated about it as I am,” he said finally. “She has come to mean a lot to us, hasn’t she?” he asked, his expression softening. “Almost like part of the family.”
“And we all know what a privilege that is,” Lex said dryly. His father laughed and gazed at him.
“No matter what you may feel, Lex, when it’s all said and done, you’ll always be a Luthor; and my son. Never forget that.” He paused. “We have a lot more in common then you may care to admit.”
Lex frowned slightly as his father turned around and left, the door swinging shut behind him. After a moment, he rose and opened the side door to his personal executive wash room. Loosening his tie and shrugging off his jacket, he turned to stare into the large mirror over the sink. He gazed back at his reflection for a moment, and then opened one of the side drawers, rummaging around for a moment. Finally he pulled out an electric razor and held it up, staring at his reflection once more. He could see a tiny smile creeping over his face in the mirror. Clicking on the razor, he raised it up to his hair and started to laugh.