Chapter 10
Is your mind clear, Kal-El? Are you now prepared to accept this life I have laid before you? Or do you still selfishly rebel? Do you still choose a small and earthly life though that life will leave many unsaved...
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"What have you done?" a familiar, raspy voice asked.
Chloe raised her head...
But she was thrown forward, her head hitting his leg as the car sped forward. She felt the same beefy hands that pulled her in, pull her backwards. She found herself next to a large, dark man who stared down at her with no expression. And across from her...
His face was in shadows, under the wide brim of a hat. The voice was one she knew from his terse instructions. "Who are you?"
"What did you do?"" he asked in a halting voice, ignoring her question.
"I didn't kill him," she said tersely. "I just hit him where he lives. He knows where I stand."
The head leaned forward, dropping itself into worn hands as the hat fell away. The hair was shorter now and gone in patches, but she saw one eye that stared in horror at the floor.
"Lionel," she breathed. She moved to the door, ready to throw herself into the street rather than sit with this supposedly dead fiend. The large man at her side held one arm in a grip that was nearly as inescapable as Clark's.
"You may leave when you're safe," Lionel said tiredly. "But you will listen first."
"Why should I listen to you?" She struggled at the large man's side, flailing her limbs, but still pinned by one arm, encircled easily by his hand. She finally gave up, though his grip didn't relax. "You've been lying to me for months."
"I never lied." His voice was the same as on the phone, so hoarse it sounded painful for him to speak. "If I'd told you who I was, you wouldn't have listened."
"I wish I hadn't. I..."
He held up a hand and nodded at the man next to her. She flinched as the other hand raised up, but it only knocked on the window behind them. She craned her neck as it slid down and she saw the freeway was in front of them.
"Make a call. Tell Robert to divert them to the airport," Lionel said to the driver. "It will buy us time." He looked at her sadly. "Though not much."
She suddenly found herself staring at this man. He'd decieved her many times, used her to do his dirty work, tried to kill her... And she felt sorry for him. She took in his now-scarred face. A particularly ugly knot of tissue ran from his mouth down his neck. "You survived the dam." She shook her head. "Of course. Luthors are like cockroaches. You'll both be here long after your son has destroyed everything around him."
"Your snideness aside, Miss Sullivan, that is exactly why you must listen to me."
She closed her eyes. It all made sense now. The insistence that Lex not be killed, Mrs. Tessmacher's longing for the glory days of Luthorcorp. "So she was in on it with you? Couldn't trust her, either."
"Who?"
"V..."
"Do not say it," he cut in, his eyes widening in realization. "There are only two of us who know of her involvement and I want it kept that way." He looked down. "I owe her that much. She has suffered much to stay so close."
She sat sullen and silent, unable to accept this.
"I've also risked a lot coming here, so near he might feel it." His eyes held fear and a strange sort of satisfaction. "He searched for my body. He knows I'm out here somewhere. He might even know I alerted the authorities to him after his 'death.' And he made sure I could never come back, accusing me of Lana Luthor's dubious death."
"So you know?"
"Of course I know. I've spent these months diverting him there, too. There are some of Lex's most trusted who still are most loyal to me."
"Am I supposed to believe this? That you're suddenly working against your own son?"
"You can believe what you wish, but you have to listen first. I'm an old man, Miss Sullivan. This is not the change of a moment. Events have changed me, most particularly, my knowledge of those things close to our absent friend..." He looked at the guard still holding her, then back at her. "Will you promise to stay and listen?"
She stared at him, knowing who their absent friend was. She'd listen if only for his sake. She nodded.
"Leave us," Lionel said to the guard.
The man knocked on the window again and she felt slow movement before the car stopped. His grip left her arm as he opened the door.
Lionel waited until it closed, then for the sound of what she knew must be the front door opening and closing. "Lex suspects more about Clark Kent than is safe. After the disciples of Zod came two years ago, he became obsessed. He doesn't know all, but he's studied the cave drawings. He believes Clark will someday be a danger to the world. He couldn't be more wrong. It's him, my own son, who will endanger all of us. And I needed you to help me."
"So... all this time, I was just doing your bidding. Again."
"No," he insisted. "You've aided me in ways I couldn't have hoped for. You and your friends in Star City. I have less resources than you'd think, Miss Sullivan. A handful of loyal employees spread throughout Luthorcorp, only two of which stay with me." He smiled. "It's a meager existence compared to my body of work." He shook his head. "I needed you, your skills, your connections to put the pieces together. When I found that General Lane..."
"Sam Lane? Where is he and what has your son..."
"Will you listen?" he snapped. "I'll tell you everything, but you must stop wasting time!"
She sat back and nodded. His references to time wasted had been scaring her. She shook with it now, imagining a darkness closing around them.
"Sam Lane became involved with my son during their attempts to shield you from me." She opened her mouth, but she held up a hand. "Save your recriminations. I know what I've done and I'm sure I'll be punished by something far greater than you." He took a deep breath. "Lex and Sam had a common mentality on one thing: the threat of things outside this earth. Project Ares was a reflection of that paranoia. When Reeves Dam was destroyed, one would think their work was destroyed with it. But men like these have contingency plans."
"Ruby Ridge," she gasped.
"What?"
"It was on the disc, but he gave it away in his office when I..."
"Yes!" Lionel Luthor looked like he might try to stand. "The Yukon! That's where it is!"
"The Yukon.." An image swam before her eyes. Lex Luthor was beside her in a helicopter, forcing her home. The pilot was saying "just over Ruby Ridge."
"The irony is nearly ridiculous," Lionel was saying. "I don't suppose Lex sees it, though."
"What do you mean?"
"Aside from the Yukon's Ruby Ridge, there is another in Idaho where a white supremacist named Randy Weaver hid himself in his family in a mountain cabin. They believed they would be safe there when the world ended. Of course, it was a government screw-up only eclipsed by Waco." He shook his head. "It's beside the point. We now have a rough location."
"33.1? Is that it?"
"Miss Sullivan, 33.1 is child's play compared to this. This facility houses indestructible clones, advanced with alien DNA, and controlled by Lex. They woudn't have had time to completely animate them yet. But Lex had succeeded in procuring the final ingredient from a phantom zone wraith and soon, he could..." He went silent as the front window rolled down.
"We've arrived, Mr. Luthor," the burly guard grunted.
"Thank you." She caught a peek at corn fields as the window rolled up. "We must part for now. I'll contact you shortly. In the mean time, gather what resources and friends you can. I'll have a location soon."
"And I should trust you?"
"We need to destroy the abomination my son has created." He leaned back and sighed. "I feel my time is running out and you must believe that I want to make this right.
"And your son?"
"I know it's too late for him and he should be kept where the world is safe from him. But I want him to walk away with his life, at least." He closed his eyes. "I want that much for him."
She looked through the dark window and only saw vague light. "Where are we?"
"Near the Kent farm. Keep your head down. I... I want Martha safe."
"And we're safe here?"
"For now. I've diverted Lex's men to Star City. He may follow. In fact, I believe he will." He leaned forward. "But he will leave some behind to monitor Smallville, Metropolis... stay out of sight." He opened the door for her. "Go!"
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"Where have you been?" Lois yelled when Chloe entered the kitchen. "Where's my car? You're phone has been ringing off the hook and Oliver..."
"We need to talk," Chloe cut in. Lucy was at the table, staring up at them with interest. She looked to Martha who stood frozen at the sink. "Could you take my phone and call Oliver? Tell him we need everyone here--- and now." She took Lois' arm and didn't look back as she marched them to the fields Ben Hubbard now worked.
"What? Just tell me?"
"Further in," Chloe grunted.
"Couldn't we just talk at the house?"
"Lucy," Chloe said as an answer. She stopped, seeing the outside edge and the dirt road. It was good enough. "It's endgame."
"What?"
"I was stupid and Luthor's on to us and we have to act now. We're still safe with Martha, but we have to destroy Ruby Ridge and Lionel will..."
"Wait, wait... Lionel? And what's Ruby Ridge?"
Chloe sighed. "I was right about ruby being significant. Ruby Ridge is Reeve's Dam part two. But more than that. It's... I think Reeve's Dam was only the test center for a masterwork."
Chloe took a deep breath and explained what she could. "We just have to get the guys here," she said at the end. "And be ready to go when he calls."
"But Lionel Luthor? The man tried to kill you, Chloe. How could you believe him?"
"You weren't there, Lois. He... perhaps working as Jor... as close to Lex as he has... Well, it changed him. He seems broken and I truly believe that..."
"Chloe, we have to get back to the house," Lois said suddenly. Chloe stared where Lois was looking. A dark green sedan was stopped on the road ahead of them. Through the stalks, she saw a woman get out.
"Excuse me?" she called. "Is someone in there."
"Shit! Don't move," Lois hissed, turning her back to the woman. "Maybe she won't..."
Chloe saw the woman's face as she came inward. "I don't want to interrupt your farm work, but I'm looking for a Martha Kent. These roads are so..." Lois and Chloe turned to her. Linda King stopped and gasped in recognition. She smiled nervously. "Oh, hi."
Lois' face was hard. "Linda, what are you doing?"
"I... I'm just following up on a story. I just heard Senator Kent has vacated her seat and..."
"Try the truth," Lois growled. "I know you were eavesdropping on us at the diner."
"You think I don't know what you're doing?" Linda's gaze turned cold. "You pretend to quit The Inquisitor, but I have my suspicions. You're sitting on something big. And I won't let you..."
"This is not some story," Lois said, glaring at her. "You don't know what you're messing with."
"Is that a threat? Charming." Linda turned back to the road, but Lois rushed after her. Chloe followed to find Lois launching herself on the roof of Linda's car.
Linda gunned the engine, yelling out her window. "Are you insane?"
"You stay away from Martha Kent!" Lois yelled. "And stay away from my family!"
Chloe heard the squeal of tires and whipped around to look down the road. A black SUV was in the distance. "Lois!"
"Chloe, I won't let her..."
Chloe opened the driver's side door and shoved at Linda. She pulled Lois arm. "Get in! They're coming!"
Linda sprawled half in the passenger seat and Chloe shoved at her leg. "How dare you just..."
"Shut up or we'll all die, you stupid bitch!" Chloe was almost happy to hear Lois yell from the backseat. "Go, Chloe!"
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