babydee1 | Chlark Fanfic: Crisis, Chapter 16 (Reply)

Some more Crisis, peeps! Enjoy. :-)

Title: Crisis

Author: BabyDee
Pairing: Chlark/Kaloe

Rating: NC-17 (this chapter PG-13)

Warnings: None

Timeline: Season 2-3 (Exodus – Exile; Clark’s RedK Summer)

Disclaimer: All characters belong to the CW & DC comics.

Summary: A violent encounter between Chloe and Clark threatens to destroy their friendship forever.

Feedback: …is love. J

Read previous chapter here.

Read story from the beginning here.

Chapter 16

As soon as Clark’s classmates moved him out of the classroom, the crushing pain began to recede. By the time they’d gotten to the end of the hall, it had disappeared completely.

Immediately his strength returned and he straightened, to the amazement of the others.

“Clark, are you alright?” Lana asked, looking puzzled.

“I, uh…” he made a show of stumbling so that his sudden recovery wouldn’t look too suspect. “I’m a lot better now, but still kinda woozy.”

“D’you still need to see the school nurse, man?” asked the person on his left. “You looked really bad back there.”

“Yeah, like you had an asthma attack, or something,” added the one on the right.

“I think I’ll be okay now, I just…need to lie down for a little,” he said, gingerly stepping out of their hold. “Thanks for everything, guys, I really appreciate it.”

“Okay, just holler if you need us.” They turned and headed back in the direction of the classroom, and he felt Lana’s hand on his arm.

“Clark…do you need me to stay with you?” she asked, concern in her eyes.

“I’ll be alright Lana, thanks. Besides, I’m heading to the boys locker room, and it’d be weird if you came in with me.”

She smiled. “Good point. I’ll let Pete and Chloe know you’re okay.”

A fresh wave of pain ran through him at the mere mention of Chloe’s name. “Thanks,” he replied.

She walked off, and he headed for the safety of the boy’s locker room. Once inside he just sat on a bench and stared ahead, looking at nothing in particular.

There was kryptonite somewhere in class; that much was obvious. And it was also obvious how it had gotten there.

Prison is too good for you, you son of a bitch.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. So this was Chloe’s way of making him pay.

“You okay, man?”

His head came up sharply and he saw Pete standing in front of him, that same curious expression on his face as before.

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“You wanna come back to class?”

He gulped. “I’m not sure,” he said hesitantly. “Pete, I think there’s kryptonite in there somewhere.”

“There was,” he confirmed. “Hidden in a corner of your desk.”

Clark averted his gaze. “I see.”

“I’ve gotten rid of it,” Pete replied. “Hopefully that’s the only one.”

He let out his breath in a grateful sigh. “Thanks, Pete, I owe you one.”

“So who else knows your secret, Clark?” he asked. “Because that sure as hell didn’t look like no accident.”

Clark stood up, still not looking directly at his friend. “No one that I’m aware of,” he lied.

“Huh. Well, you know I’ve got your back, no matter what, right?”

He nodded, and gave a faint smile. “I know.”

***

The rest of the day passed without incident. As soon as the final bell rang Clark bolted for the exit and zipped straight home, heading straight for the loft where he could sit down and think about what had happened today.

So this was her plan; kryptonite. He’d known was only a matter of time before Chloe would do something to get back at him, but he’d thought more along the lines of her outing him to everyone as a rapist. He didn’t know which was worse; the public humiliation of being named and shamed, or her infliction of physical pain upon him.

He sighed. It was still a mystery to him that she hadn’t turned him in…unless of course she was simply prolonging the agony, making him squirm until she got bored of hurting him and then decided to send him to lock-up. Either way, it was no more than what he deserved, and he’d said he would go along with whatever it took for her to recover from what he’d done to her.

“Clark?” called his mother from the stairway. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” he said, rising to give her a hug. She glanced up at him, her face etched with lines of worry.

“Chloe, she…she needs more time to decide,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “I’ll let you know if anything changes.”

She nodded, her relief evident but still tinged with concern. “If…if there’s anything I can do…”

“It’s okay Mom,” he replied. “Thank you; but this is something we need to sort out on our own.”

“I understand. Again, I’m so proud of you for telling her the truth; it can’t have been easy.”

She returned to the farmhouse after reminding him to come in for dinner after completing his chores. He knew she was only trying to help, to keep things normal; but he didn’t think life could ever be normal again.

***

“Hello, Daily Planet – Chloe speaking.”

“Ms Sullivan! It’s er…been a bit of while since we last chatted,” came the crisp tones of Lionel Luthor down the line. “You must be enjoying the view from the 14th Floor a tad too much, I think.”

“How can I help you, Mr Luthor?” she asked dryly.

“Well, I was hoping you might be able to improve the view from where I’m sitting,” he ventured.

“Pardon me for being rude, but that’s just disgusting.”

“You know what I want from you, Ms Sullivan, and it isn’t that,” he replied with a touch of annoyance. “I have a Manila file on my desk with a familiar name on it, and it’s er…looking a little thinner than I’d hoped.”

Chloe clenched her jaw. “I already gave you everything I have,” she replied.

“Then perhaps you’re not as smart as I give you credit for.”

“Or perhaps you’d prefer me to start making stuff up to thicken the file cabinets?” she challenged. “Exactly what is your interest in Mid-Western farmboys, Mr Luthor? Maybe that’s the real story here.”

She could practically hear him clenching his fist in annoyance. “You’d do well to remember on which side your bread is buttered, Ms Sullivan,” he said, his tone hard. “It never works out well for the dog that bites the hand that feeds it.”

“You know what?” she said suddenly. “I think there was something I may have missed in my last report; something important. I’ll have it on your desk by the end of the week, if that’s okay.”

“That’ll be more than satisfactory,” he said, sounding smugly pleased. “I always say that you never know what you’re capable of if you don’t push yourself.”

“Or in your case, until someone goads you in the back often enough with a electric cattle prod,” she snarked.

He chuckled. “I really do enjoy our little chats, my dear. Your dry wit is fascinating.”

“And yours? Isn’t,” she immediately responded.

“I’ll expect detailed information on our favourite subject by Friday, he said with an air of finality. “Good day, Ms Sullivan.”

The line went dead, and Chloe slammed the phone down in disgust, drawing some curious looks from passing colleagues. She gave them an apologetic smile and returned to the article she was preparing, but as always these days, enlightening the city with her view on life from the young person’s perspective brought her little joy.

She took a deep breath and sighed. If she were to be honest, her return to the Daily Planet hadn’t brought her any joy whatsoever. It had come at much too high a price; the betrayal of a friend, and had left a sour taste in her mouth from the word go. Of course, that had all been before Clark had violated her in the worst way possible.

Her fingers stilled on the keyboard as she remembered the perverse thrill that had run through her this afternoon on seeing Clark’s fear when he saw her talking to Lana, then his intense physical pain as the meteor rock she’d stashed in his desk did it’s work. Initially she’d doubted that it could actually hurt him; despite his display in the Torch a while ago, it had occurred to her that he might have been putting it on just to make her feel safe.

But no; the green rocks really did cripple him, as he’d informed her. It stripped him of his abilities and made him as weak as any other man, even weaker.

And now she knew exactly what Lionel’s fascination was with Clark. His eccentricities hadn’t gone unnoticed by the wealthy entrepreneur, and no doubt he expected her to spy on Clark and come up with some answers.

She steepled her fingers under her chin and stared at her monitor. If she really wanted to deal with Clark for raping her, she couldn’t do any worse than hand him over to Lionel Luthor; she was pretty sure if Lionel knew everything Clark could do in addition to holding the key to turning his powers on and off, Clark would never again see the light of day.

But that wasn’t the plan. If Lionel got hold of the truth, Clark would disappear without a trace, probably be hidden in an underground lab made of lead and kryptonite for the rest of his life whilst he was experimented on and used to create weapons of war. People would die, and Lionel would have ultimate power in his grasp – and that certainly wasn’t what she wanted.

But Lionel was getting antsy at her lack of communication, and was resorting to very unsubtle threats against her if she didn’t play ball.

Fine. He wanted info on Clark, she was going to give it to him. And if he got pissed and yanked her column out from under her after he received it, she really couldn’t care less. Truth be told, she wanted out of this deal; she didn’t want her professional life at the Daily Planet to be tainted by the stain of Luthor influence.

With a satisfied grin on her face, she opened a fresh computer window and started to type.

***

Three days.

Clark glanced warily around as he trudged down the school hall. It had been three days since the incident with the kryptonite in the desk, and he’d literally been looking over his shoulder ever since, wondering if and when she was going to strike next. He felt like an addict in reverse: Hi, I’m Clark, and it’s been three days since I had a greenK hit.

He hadn’t spoken to Chloe or confronted her, but he didn’t need to. He knew it was her, and she knew he knew it was her. It was only a matter of time before she went for the next hit – and he had no idea when or where that might be.

“Here comes the weekend!” announced Pete as he appeared from one of the corridors. “Any plans?”

“Not really, no,” he replied. “I have a strong suspicion that Dad and I will be working on the tractor, though.”

Pete snorted. “Your Dad knows that tractor’s only good for the scrapheap, but he’ll never get rid of it,” he stated. “He’s the stubbornest person I know – well, apart from Chloe, of course.”

At the sound of her name, Clark almost tripped over his own feet. “Yeah, Dad’ll never give up on that tractor, it means too much to him,” he replied, trying to steer the conversation back to something more mundane.

But Pete wasn’t biting that line. “Speaking of Chloe, you coming by The Torch later?” he asked. “She’s trying out some new print templates, it looks like she might need our help.”

“Not today Pete, I have after-school chores,” he answered shakily.

“Yeah, chores that you can do it five seconds flat,” he pointed out. “Five minutes in The Torch won’t make that much of a difference – especially since you haven’t dropped by all week.”

Clark didn’t answer.

“Unless of course, Chloe’s pissed at you for some reason,” Pete went on. “Is she, Clark?”

This time, Clark swallowed guiltily, and he could feel the sweat breaking out on his brow. “I, uh…”

“Clark!” called Lana. “Just the person I was looking for.”

He’d never been so relieved to see Lana Lang in his life. “Hi, Lana. Anything I can help you with?”

“Actually, there is,” she said sweetly, tapping her notebook. “I know I work in a coffee shop and handle money all day, but believe it or not, Calculus is not one of my strong points. I was hoping you might be able to give me some formulaic tips after school today?”

“Yes. Yes, of course,” he readily agreed.

She smiled brightly. “Good! I’ll drop by the Farm later.”

Pete scowled as she walked off down the hall. “So you’ve got all the time in the world to help Lana with math, but when it comes to helping Chloe, you’ve got chores,” he said snidely. “Exactly what is going on with you two, Clark?”

“Look, will you just drop it, Pete?” Clark said angrily as he unlocked his locker and opened it wide.

A bright green glow emanated from the small enclave, and his books fell from his suddenly nerveless fingers. Immediately his body became infused with pain as he was irradiated from the rocks within.

His knees gave way and he collapsed to the floor, groaning in agony.

***

Chapter 17…