Chapter 16
Chloe adjusted the belt on her robe and stepped into the hall. Lois was right next to her, pretty much squashing her ribs. "Lois, I can walk."
"Just let me..."
"I'm weak, but I'm fine. Okay?"
"You certainly are fine." Chloe looked up to see Bart coming out of his room. He stopped and looked at her, then down at his own hotel robe. "Now, this is embarrassing. One of us will ave to change. We really should discuss these things before..."
"Bart, shut it," Lois groaned. "It's not time for your jokes."
"Oh, contraire." He stepped forward, staking Chloe's hand. "Everything sucks. This is exactly the time for jokes." He smiled at her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm good now." But not for long if I don't see him.
"Since you're healed up then..." Bart leered at her. "Might I say that I did catch a glimpse of a certain Chloelicious bathroom scene and I hope you won't be offended if I say... Mmm-mmm-mmm." He took his hand from hers and bit his knuckle.
"Will you shut up about that?" A.C. came out, too. "Ever since he knew you'd be okay, he's been giggling like a little kid."
"Not true. It was a manly giggle." He leaned towards Chloe. "I know you're more into the airborne type, but... Ow!"
A.C. grabbed his ear and dragged him down the hall. "Dude, play hard to get once in a while."
Chloe shook Lois off and followed them. Her heart was pounding. She'd see him, really see him. There was so much they needed to talk about. But first, she just had to see him.
There was no noise as she walked in. In the back of her mind, she knew there must be noise. Lips were moving and the gang was milling about. But she couldn't hear it. She could only see him. He was in a chair. His eyes were closed and his head was back. He looked... Lois was right. He looked like a homeless person. His clothes were the same he'd left her wearing and they were torn and dirty. His hair was shaggy and hung about his face in clumps. But he was here. He was truly here.
"Clark?" she choked out.
His head raised and his eyes opened briefly before squeezing shut as he covered his face.
She rushed to him, knelt at his feet. "What's wrong?"
"My eyes," he grunted. "When I open them..."
"Don't." She leaned up to run her fingers over them and his face relaxed. She touched that, too. Every part of it. Her fingers memorized his cheekbones and his lips again. She brushed the hair from his forehead. "What's wrong with your eyes?" She kissed them.
His hands grasped hers and pulled them away. His jaw turned hard on her. "My training. I'm not finished and everything's too sensitive. Father warned me about this."
"Father?" Lois said from behind her.
"Do you mean Jor-El?" Chloe asked, hurt that he was pushing her away, but still needing to know. "Since when do you call him father?"
"Not now, Chloe."
She felt him push her back and she let him, standing up and backing away. "Okay. That's... fair enough." She felt tears at the backs of her eyes and she blinked rapidly,letting Lois pull her into a chair. She looked at Oliver who was standing behind Lois. "Where's Uncle Sam?"
"He's in our room," A.C. piped up. "Lucy's with him. He's okay, but he's unconscious."
"You left her with him?" Lois said, turning on him. "She'll untie him and then what will we do?"
"She won't," Victor said sternly. "We had a talk." He stood straight before them and everyone seemed to stand at attention... except Clark, who sat very still, his eyes shut tight. And Chloe, who stared across the miles between them and wondered what had happened to the man who... No. He'd never said he loved her. She'd been glad enough that he would have sex with her without the mask of Kal between them. Now... Well, she didn't know what would happen. Not to him or her or them. Or all of them.
"I've filled Clark in and Lionel has filled me in," Victor began. "He's coming and I could say this is bad news, but I've been thinking..." He paced toward the table. "We want this project destroyed, yes. But we also want him put away. It would be much easier if we could be sure he's caught with it. Hence, I have a new plan. Every step is timed to the last second." He turned to them, a satisfied gleam in his eye. "We start after we know he's arrived."
Oliver stared at Victor, squinting slightly. "But how will we know he's arrived? And how will he not realise we have?"
Victor smiled smugly. "Hoping you'd ask." He turned to Bart. "That little avalanche? I sent a false report to Luthor's security team that some illegal wolf-hunting was happening in their area, causing an avalanche." He shook his head. "Of course, now they probably have men on the watch for poachers. But its better than them being alert to our presence here." He pointed at Lionel and turned to Chloe. "Daddy Warbucks here has placed 'you' back in Smallville again. Lex basically wants you taken out, but we know you aren't there. As for Mrs. Kent..." Everyone looked at Clark, who groped for the arm of the chair and stood.
"My mom? What about her? Isn't she in D.C.?"
"She came back," Chloe said softly. "She wanted to wait for you."
"But she could be in..."
"Taken care of," Victor cut in. "Calm down, Boyscout. Oliver called his secretary. You mom's going to a safe house in Winnipeg." Clark relaxed. Chloe noticed that Lionel did, too.
Lois turned to Oliver. "Your secretary? I haven't met her," she said stiffly.
He kissed her hand. "You'll love her. Her names Jacob."
She smiled. "Love her already."
Victor groaned. "Could everybody just listen?"
All heads turned.
"The most important thing, as far as Lex not knowing what's up, is the general."
A.C. nodded. "Yeah. It's almost dawn. They're gonna have a bird if he's not there."
"He needs to call in. We have to make him."
Lois swallowed hard. "And... if he doesn't cooperate?"
"That's not an option," Victor said darkly. "I'm sorry." He patted the computer monitor. "In the meantime, I've been getting friendly with the general's computer. I have a plan." He sat down and touched the tower, his left eye glowing faintly. A blueprint appeared. "The largest area is where they hold the clones. That's our target. If this goes well, nothing gets blown up." A diagram appeared on the screen. Chloe felt like she was watching a powerpoint presentation. "There's a life-support system in place. Without it, these things will die and quick. They're six months away from completion."
"And f*cking creepy," Bart added, shuddering.
"Yes. Thank you." Victor turned his attention back to the monitor. "It won't be as easy as cutting the power. This place has six back-up generators and the breeding area is their first priority. I can't access the control of it remotely. I can't even access security unless I'm in. So I need in, then I can cut the cord but good."
"And let me reiterate," Oliver said, "that I want to get through this without bloodshed. We have weapons, yes, but only use them if we're left with no choice."
"On that note," Victor said, nodding to a large duffel bag on the floor. "Everyone gets a gun, but no bullets. They're all trancs. They'll take anyone out for eight hours, which is more than we need." He clapped his hands and stood, stepping away from the computer and toward a large dry-erase board. He passed Clark, then stopped, turning to him and patting his back. "I'm glad you're with us, Boy Scout."
"Yeah." Bart echoed the sentiment. "That's what I was telling everyone. Boyscout said he'd be joining the fight and Boyscout never lies."
Chloe saw what looked like the beginnings of a smile on Clark's face as he sat back down. "Well, I won't be much good. I see through everything. I can only see surface in patches."
Victor shook his head. "Yeah. That's a problem. You can't do much without any depth perception. You'll be running into walls."
"And totally annihilating them," A.C. added.
Victor shrugged. "We'd be better off if everything was made of lead."
Bart stood quickly. "Wait a sec!" He was in front of Oliver in a heartbeat. "Gimme your sunglasses."
"Wha..."
"Just hand 'em over, Rich Boy."
Oliver did, looking wary.
"Okay. Now gimme some money."
"Wait... what..."
"Just trust me." Oliver started to dig in his wallet, but Bart just took the whole thing, turning to the room with a huge sh*t-eating grin. "Be right back."
*************************************
Victor was pacing. "Where the hell is he? He said he'd be right back. It's almost seven."
"Chill out, Bro," A.C. said. "He's only been gone ten minutes. Lex is probably only over the Canada line."
"We have to plan and it doesn't work unless everyone's here. I should have never let him..."
The door flew open and Bart strode in with two paper bags. "Look who's back. Sorry about that, guys, but for such a boring place, this place has almost no hobby shops. But I got it." He held up the smaller bag. "Oh, and donuts. I have been craving these since last night. Those guards had some jellies and it was killing me." He tossed the larger one to Oliver. "Why don't you dole those out, Boss Man?"
"What about my wallet?"
"Fine," Bart groaned. "Figures you'd want that..."
"Where did you go?" Victor ground out, seething.
Bart strolled over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Vic, and I'm saying this because I care, you need to chill."
"Dude, that's what I said," A.C. laughed.
"I know." Bart patted Victor again. "Somebody get this guy an oil can."
"I really wish you two would stop joking and take this seriously."
Bart stepped away from Victor, his head down. "You know what? I am taking this seriously. Lex almost killed me, I just barely escaped death last night... Nobody is more serious about this than me. But don't tell me to stop joking. It's all I have." He walked silently away from Victor, who looked away, to the table and poured out the bag. There was a small paint brush, a tiny can and Oliver's sunglasses.
He peeled the metal lid out of the can. "I dated this girl a few months back. She was all into pottery. We even did that thing from Ghost. The song and everything. Ugliest vase ever, but she glazed it." He dipped the brush into the can and smeared something carefully and evenly on Oliver's sunglass lenses. "Lead sulphide. Used in some glazes. It gives a nice shine, she thought. Toxic, though, until heated properly. But it contains traces of lead while still going on clear." He got up and walked to where Clark was sitting, but stopped and turned to Oliver. "Now these are glass, right? Not cheap-o plastic?" Oliver nodded and he turned back to Clark. "Give me a little heat, Big Guy. Right in front."
Clark's brows were furrowed, but he obeyed, taking the glasses and opening his eyes, even though it looked extremely painful. He put them down and aimed toward his lap, stared hard at them. He shot a quick blast before falling back, his eyes squeezed tight again.
"Okay, Boyscout," Bart prodded. "You did good. But you gotta try them out."
Clark nodded, breathing hard, and brought the sunglasses to his face. Chloe said a silent prayer. She couldn't see behind the lenses, but she could see him stand up. And she could... feel his eyes. They were on her. She knew it.
"Does it work?" Chloe asked hesitantly.
He nodded, still facing her. And still gazing at her, she knew it.
She walked slowly toward him, forgetting anyone else was in the room. "You see me?"
His hand came to her face and his lips quirked slightly. "Yeah."
"It doesn't hurt?"
He shook his head, smiling now.
She put her hand on his chest and pulled it back, slapping hard. "That's for leaving me!"
He flinched and his lips drew back in a grimace.
She gaped at him. "That actually hurt?"
"Yeah, the training left me raw and I... Ow!"
She pulled his too-long hair. "That's for not even telling me about your stupid training."
"Chloe, stop..." She pinched his arm. "Quit it. I'm..." She poked his chest, slapped at his shoulder, kicked his shin, made sure she hit anything that wasn't his face. She didn't want to knock the glasses off. She wanted to make sure he saw and remembered.
"You go somewhere, you tell me, you big, dumb alien. I won't... Get off me!" She struggled as his arms came up, holding her arms to her sides. It was useless. She could only continue to kick as she found herself lifted nearly a foot off the floor. "I'm not done hitting you. Put me..."
Her words were cut off as he brought her forward, crushing her lips to his. She still kicked, but her heart wasn't in it. Soon she was kissing back, her feet hanging limply until he lowered her, his hands loosening, but his lips never letting up. His hands slid to hers and brought them up, placing them on his shoulders. She took the hint and wound them around his neck as she opened her mouth, sweeping her tongue along the seam of his lips.
She dimly heard voices.
"Well, I kind of thought it, but..."
"Are you kidding? I've known for like three years." This from Lois. Shut up, she thought. She needed to concentrate. This was nearly a monumental moment in her life. Clark Kent was kissing her for all to see.
"Why's she kissing him? I'm the one who thought of it."
"Dude, just give up already."
"We need to get to work."
"Oh, just give them a moment, for crying out loud."
"Daddy's awake!"
That did it. Chloe tore her face away and turned to the door.
Lucy Lane stood there, trembling. "I think he's really sick."
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