Still spoiling Veritas. I may be going over things already seen in the ep, but I want to be thorough with my Chloe and Lex scenes, eke whatever meaning I can from them as the show, once again, gave no help.
Chapter 26
Lex stared at the window in the daylight. It was better in the light of day. He couldn't see anything except the haze of his grounds through purple and white glass. No reflection. Not his face and not his face. He hadn't seen the boy since yesterday. He wondered if it was crazy, calling him the boy. He'd seen pictures of himself at that age. He could just call him by name.
But it seemed somehow less crazy to disassociate himself from the hallucination of his younger self. And God knew he didn't need to be more crazy.
Yet he almost wanted to see him, wanted to remember that boy. Not out of any love for the weak, starved, snivelling thing he once was. But to know more.
He was beginning to see things clearly. It started last week, after he'd nearly died. They always say near-death experiences can change a man. And how had he changed? He'd become weak. Rather than dig into the memories that were being unleashed, he'd let everything go. Spent a weekend wrapped up in her. It was her. She made him weak. She made him sloppy.
Fantasizing about leaving everything he'd worked for to be with her. Letting up the detail on her like a chastised little boy over her scolding about Pete Ross. And what was there to feel guilty about? It would have been worth it, if he'd only got what he needed. But he didn't. He dropped the ball.
He'd dropped the ball on Kara, too, getting sentimental and trusting her as if she could be... Not Clark, exactly. But there were similarities. He'd been too easy on her, trying to gain her trust. Who needed her trust? He should have packed her up to the lab, willing or not, while he still had the chance.
It was time to treat enemies as enemies. And he had many enemies to deal with. He'd get right on that. He'd stop being weak, stop feeling guilty for doing things that needed to be done.
She didn't have to die.
He turned, but couldn't see him. But he heard his whiny, little voice. He turned back to the window, clutching Patricia's locket in his hand. "Please fuck off," he hissed, deciding he didn't want to see the boy after all. He brought nothing productive. He covered his flinch as the study doors creaked open and he heard a voice behind him.
"All the tracks have been covered, Mr. Luthor." It was Gina. Good. He only hoped she was alone. "No one will ever be able to trace the locket back to you."
He didn't turn. He was afraid of what he might see. "I don't need to remind you..."
"Absolute secrecy. After this many years, trust me, I understand the magnitude of this moment."
Yes. He'd best remember that, stop wallowing in his failure. Everything was coming together. "It's funny. All those global treasure hunts and cave excavations, and the secret of veritas was so much closer than I thought."
"I suppose it's poetic in a way. Most things we spend our lives searching for usually are right in front of us." He finally turned, ruminating on that. It was all there. He always had the pieces. Maybe it took complete and total failure to see it. Perhaps he should thank his enemies -- when they were properly contained, of course. "There is one thing I don't quite understand," Gina said as he took his chair. "You say you've been searching your whole life. But I thought you didn't learn about veritas until recently."
"I've always known my father was covering a secret -- a secret of cryptic symbols and mystic stones. I just didn't know it had a name." And he'd never really tried until now. Always searching for approval from his father instead of treating him like the enemy he was.
"And what was it? The final piece?"
"My own memory. After the first meteor shower, there were years I blocked out. But ever since I was shot in Detroit, I keep having flashes of things that I'd forgotten." He saw his father grabbing him by the neck, his mother crying, himself alone in his... No. That wasn't what he needed to remember. Those memories are what drove him to Chloe, a weak and needy thing begging at her feet for scraps of approval. He needed things that produced, that drove him onward.
"And that's how you remembered that," Gina said as he stared at the locket with the white swan in his hand. He concentrated on it, knowing there was something... He saw the swan again, but hanging on a wall, a large, white crest that Patricia Swann stepped in front of in her white dress and pink sash. He'd think she was kind of pretty if she wasn't a stupid girl.
"Come on, Patty. It's your turn," Oliver Queen said from in front of him, silly arrows strapped to his back. He thought Robin Hood was the greatest hero ever, which was totally stupid because Robin Hood couldn't even fly, not like Warrior Angel. He wished he'd brought his comics so he could sit and read, but his father told him to go off and play with the kids.
"But I just went," she whined. Girls always whined. He guessed girls were allowed to. Boys weren't. His father said so.
"Patty!" Jason Teague whined back and he figured that maybe boys were allowed to whine. Just not him. Not ever.
He wished he didn't have to come here. He wished he didn't have to play with them. He didn't even like to play and he didn't like them, not really. Especially not Oliver, who thought he was just the greatest thing ever.
"Okay, okay. I'll go." Patty hid her face against the banister. "10, 9, 8..." He started scrambling for a place to hide, forgetting that he didn't like them and that he didn't like playing because this was so deadly serious. "Ready or not, here I come."
He sped up and turned the corner and remembered that he definitely didn't like Jason as he climbed into a chest, which was the only good spot.
He turned, staring at the nearest door and ran for it, shutting himself in. He pulled out his inhaler, remembering why he hated playing as he pushed it down and took a few deep breaths, stopping when he heard voices, which was weird since he was in a coat closet.
"...Swann has been very open about the traveler." It was one of the other grown-ups. He wasn't sure which. He hardly got to hear their voices, since he got shoved off with the other kids whenever he was forced to go here.
"...trying to solve a puzzle with only a few pieces. He's keeping things from us." He was sure who that was. That was his dad.
"Lionel, he's being cautious. And from the mutiny you're suggesting, he should be. Swann only tells us what we need to know. It's safer that way." There was a grate. He leaned down to it, knowing he wasn't supposed to listen in on grown-ups, but thinking they had to be doing something more interesting than the stupid kids with their running and... more running. He wished his dad would just let him sit with them so he could breathe.
"I understand, but suppose it's all been a trick, a ruse." His dad was saying. "If we don't open that envelope, Dr. Swann's conclusions could be as mythical as the gods of Mount Olympus." He wanted to pipe up that he knew what Mount Olympus was and about Greeks and gods, that he could sit with the grown-ups, but he kept quiet. He might get in trouble.
"Virgil's gonna be here any minute. I suggest you don't refer to his life's work as mythology," Oliver's dad was saying. He could tell with the blonde hair.
"Veritas is the greatest secret the world will ever know," Mr. Teague said.
"We formed this group to use our wealth and power to protect that secret, not expose it."
His dad looked a little mad. He could tell by the way his face got tight. "Is that Robert Queen talking, or is that Virgil Swann? You're sounding more like him every day. Yes. Dr. Swann made the discovery alone, but that does not give him the right to keep it to himself. Give me the envelope, please." His dad held out his hand. He figured Mr. Queen had better do it. He wouldn't like his dad when he got really mad.
Mr. Queen turned away. "We promised that we would meet the traveler before we decided to pursue a way to control him."
"Don't talk to me about promises. You've been working in secret with Dr. Swann, haven't you? And you, Edward -- you and Genevieve gallivanting around the world. You've been searching for those magical stones."
Lex's eyes widened at that. Magical Stones! So there was magic! His dad had said there was no such...
"Lionel, this is bigger than the Queens or the Teagues or the Luthors!" Now Mr. Teague was getting mad.
"Long before our families united, men died protecting the secret of veritas." At least Mr. Queen wasn't mad. But Lex was. His dad didn't even let him play Dungeons and Dragons because it was silly. And now there was magic. "If Edward's ancestors are right, they've been sacrificing themselves to protect it for centuries."
"If Dr. Swann's prediction is correct, the traveler is coming now. We can't wait." His Dad didn't sound mad anymore, but he was still all tight in the face. Maybe he wouldn't tell his dad he heard all about the real magic. "That envelope and the secret inside it will give us ultimate power. You're afraid. You don't trust yourself with that, do you?" His dad wasn't afraid. He was sure of that. He felt kind of proud about that, how his dad was never afraid.
"This... there isn't one among us who could resist that temptation," Mr. Teague said.
"We agreed we would not open that envelope unless the traveler proved to be a threat. That's why Swann and I are flying to Zurich -- to make sure that the secret is kept locked safely away and ultimate power is left in the hands of the gods." Were the Greek gods real, too? This was so cool.
"Robert, ult--" Something clicked and everyone stopped talking, which kind of sucked. He wanted to hear more about real gods and magic.
But Mr. Swann was rolling in as Mr. Queen picked up a necklace near that envelope they were all fighting over. He opened it up and Lex could see a tiny key before Mr. Swann rolled in front of him and...
Lex opened his eyes on Gina, who was just staring at him with that rapt look like always. He turned his gaze to the locket in his hand again. He wondered if...
He pressed the side carefully and it opened. He'd known it would, somehow, known it was important. He pulled out the tiny, golden key and held it up. "Find the bank this key belongs to."
Her rapt stare turned into wide-eyed disbelief as she took it. "Sir, that could take months."
"Try 24 hours. It's in Zurich." He stared after her as she left, reflecting that he got much more done when he didn't wallow. He glanced at the locket again. So he wouldn't sit here, thinking of Patty Swann. Because this was worth it. He'd make sure it was. She might have even understood, had she lived to know all he was going to.
He stood. Now to take care of some enemies. With Gina tied up, he'd have to get that airstrip checked out. And see just what other properties his father was buying up with Luthorcorp's money.
***************************
Chloe took the elevator down to the basement. It was only one floor, but her feet were killing her. But she'd managed to get more clearance from the DWP. So Clark should be grateful she could now...
"Chloe!" She'd barely stepped off the elevator and he was rushing to her. "why didn't you tell me they found her last night?"
So much for Clark being grateful. "I...just walked through the door." He handed her a paper. Patricia Swann's photo stared back at her under the headline "Prominent Metropolis Citizen Dies a Suspicious Death." Something told her this was no coincidence. "Another member of the Veritas clan silenced." She put it down and strode toward her desk. After yesterday, after finding her with Lionel...
"Chloe," Clark was right behind her, "do you think Lionel's behind this?"
Pretty much. "I know he was throwing suspicion onto Lex when you were captured, but nothing I dug up reveals any links between Lex and the Veritas clan other than his father." Plus, Lex said nothing about Swann the other night. Drunk as she was, she would have remembered that. "Looks like all roads lead to Lionel." It was a relief in a way because she couldn't think Lex would really... Well, she could. She just didn't want to. Of course, nothing was a relief because all the hope they had of Patricia Swann's protection and help had just died with her.
Clark had that look on his face. She knew that look and she had an inkling of what he was about to say. "What if she died protecting me, Chloe? Protecting my secret?" And she was right.
She softened her voice and leaned on her desk. "Clark, we don't have time for guilt right now." Clark stared down with that familiar look that said there was always time for guilt. She moved on quickly. There was work to do. "Look, I spent the entire morning sweet-talking the centurion at the department of water and power," she sat down and logged in, "and he finally agreed to fast-track my password approval so that we could scan the power grids for any unusual surges." She pulled them up as he paced in front of her desk, still with that miserable look she didn't have time for. "Brazil, Honduras, Florida... God, Brainiac really gets around." He didn't seem inclined to join in. She hoped... Her eyes lit on the screen as something caught her eye. "Oh, my god."
He stopped his pacing. "What is it?"
This would get him on task. "A massive power surge flared up in Metropolis right near the Isis Foundation."
"Lana." He sped off.
**********************
Note: I'm still spoiling Veritas and I'm going to make a few modifications because the fuck-ups are too glaring to go completely with "canon" on this. This and Descent have the most day to night to day to night continuity errors of any episode of Smallville ever. It was dusk when Clark and Chloe talk, then getting darker as he gets to Lana and finds her all Brainiacked up, then it's night when Jimmy and Lois go off scoobying, then suddenly daytime when Lex has the following scene, then... I truly can't believe it's the next night when Clark and Kara meet Brainiac on the roof and Chloe meets Lionel in the basement. I really can't. Because Kara went right off to meet Brainiac and Clark went after her. Are we supposed to believe she flew around for a day, got some shut-eye. To top it off, there's another "next day" when chloe goes (with changed clothes) to where Clark is putting Lana. Then in Descent, Chloe has on the previous day's outfit and everyone is saying "tonight" instead of "last night."
After writing, deleting, and rewriting a billion different scenes that were supposed to make sense out of this, I realized I'd have to change actual lines in Descent to make this work. So I've decided to save myself the headache and do two small switcheroos. I have enough wanking without following an obviously flawed timeline. So I am moving the Chlarkana scene to where I believe it originally was (the day after Lionel died) and pretending the Lex scene you're about to see happened at dusk that first day.
I just wish I'd decided this before I drove myself loopy.
Damned lazy show.
Chapter 26 B
Lex packed his briefcase with something nearing relish, one step closer to destiny every second. He could feel it, despite one minor distraction.
This airstrip of his father's, while full of complicated machinery, seemed to have nothing at all to do with Veritas. Some side project, no doubt. Still, it was interesting enough to seize all equipment and hold the curiously silent guard for questioning. A few days at Black Creek would, hopefully, loosen his tongue.
He'd deal with that when he returned. He wasn't about to let even the smallest thing slip past him these days, but he also didn't want to waste another second. He'd fly ahead to Zurich and be at the bank, whichever bank it was, when it opened. He tossed his passport into his suitcase as Gina strode in.
"They're preparing the jet. I hope you found the bank."
"Sir, we traced the key to the National Depository of Switzerland, but we hit a roadblock."
He gritted his teeth. "When we're this close, I think it's fair to say that persuading a glorified teller should be the least of our worries." Now he wished he hadn't wasted a second. Perhaps he was misguided in trusting Gina with this. "If someone's holding out, pay them whatever they're asking." It was so simple, a child could understand it.
"Sir, this bank helf off the Third Reich, Sicilian Mafia, and Al Queda. With all due respect, I'm fairly certain that they won't bow to you."
Fuck her, but she was thorough. "I don't understand. If they're requiring authorization, we have the key."
"We have one key. Each safety deposit box in the high security vault requires two."
"Two?" he repeated dumbly. There was no way he could get this close, do all that he'd done to get to this point for nothing.
"We've already started trying to track down the other..."
He strode to the desk. There was no way. No fucking way
"...but we don't have any leads," she finished.
No. There had to be something. His mind raced, thinking of that eavesdropped conversation, of the other locket, tiny and gold, of Queen opening it... Queen had the other. But Queen was dead.
He dug in his suitcase, trying to think of what to do now. He pulled out the old issue of The Planet, wondering if it said anything. Queen was presumed dead and hadn't shown up since, but they never found his body. What now? There wasn't even a grave to look in. If it was buried with him, then they could drag the ocean floor for years and never... never...
...never going to get out of here. His dad was bringing him everywhere lately now that Mom wouldn't even come out of her room anymore. Also, she seemed kind of mad at him for tattling about the snooping. He wished he hadn't. He didn't know his dad would get so mad. He'd make her something, like a "sorry" card if he ever got out of here.
He clutched his new action figure. At least his dad got him a toy... or his dad's secretary did. He launched Warrior Angel off the coffee table like a rocket off a newspaper that said somebody was "dead." That wouldn't happen with Warrior Angel around. He'd fly around and save everybody and Lex bet, if he knew him, he'd take him flying, too. He'd never even been in a plane. It would be so cool.
He looked up as the door slid open, kind of hoping she was back with a snack or maybe a Devilicus to fight against. But it was only some stony-looking guy who didn't even look at him. He looked really serious. He stuffed Warrior Angel in his pocket for later and followed him to the doors as they closed, hoping it wasn't too serious, like an emergency. His dad was supposed to take him to lunch today and he was kind of hoping for McDonald's. His dad would probably want to go somewhere with tablecloths and wine glasses, but if he was extra good...
"Well, hold on a minute, will you?" He peeked between the doors. His dad was holding a phone. He was always on the phone nowadays. "The divers... Did they find anyone who survived?"
"No, Sir," the stony guy said. "The Queens have been confirmed dead."
Was that who was dead in the paper? He knew them!
"And their son, Oliver?"
He knew him, too. He didn't really like him, but he knew him. Now he wondered if he should forget lunch and be sad and go to the funeral.
"Away at boarding school."
Well, it probably wouldn't be a funeral today if Ollie was away. It wasn't like it was mean to go to lunch just because somebody died. But still, if his dad was sad...
"Their key. Do you have the key?" He didn't actually look sad.
The man handed him something and he looked a little bit happy. It looked like that little gold locket Mr. Queen had. He must have left it to his dad in the will. He knew all about wills. Everybody that died had one.
"Your helicopter is waiting, Sir."
"Thank you."
Lex watched the stony guy leave through the other door as his dad put the phone in his hand to his ear. "I've got it... Well, we just need Doctor Swann's."
Doctor Swann. He was the guy in the wheelchair. Did he die, too? Probably not. That would have been in the paper, too. He seemed important. And he was a doctor.
"No... Alright, listen to me just one more time - the traveler is useless to us unless we can control him."
Again with this traveling guy. He hoped that didn't mean his dad would drag him to more places.
"Well, the answer to that is sitting in a safety deposit box in Zurich."
He didn't know where Zurich was, but he didn't want to go. Maybe he'd bring it up nicely when they went to lunch. If they ever went.
"We'll talk later. Alright?"
Good, they could finally... His father neared the door and he stumbled, breaths coming quicker. He meant to move back. He'd been listening. He'd been snooping and he was caught. He knew what happened when you got caught snooping, after his mother... He backed away further as his father stared down at him. Would he hit him? Because that's what...
"Lex." He was smiling.
Lex felt his breathing slow.
"You ready for an adventure, Son?"
He smiled and nodded, glad he wasn't mad. Plus an adventure sounded kind of better than lunch.
"Where's your tie?"
He pulled it out of his other pocket.
His father took it and knelt down, still smiling. "Ah. Okay. Here we go. We are gonna fly in a helicopter..."
Lex hated ties, but he smiled as his dad clipped the tie on. He'd never been in a helicopter. Now he and Warrior Angel really could fly. He was suddenly worried they were going to Zurich. It sounded really far if people had to go there to find travelers and...
"...to a friendly little town just outside the city called Smallville," his dad finished, buttoning his jacket.
Lex smiled wider. That wasn't so bad.
"Okay. Let's go."
His dad sounded really happy. Which was weird because wasn't he sad about Mr. Queen? Lex glanced back at the newspaper on the coffee table, thinking maybe his dad was glad because he got something in the will...
Lex's vision cleared and he stared at the paper. The will? What a stupid kid he'd been. There was no will. This locket was probably ripped from Queen's cold, dead body by one of his father's men. He stared blankly at the paper, seeing another cold, dead body, a woman, a locket with a Swann...
It didn't matter. It had to stop mattering.
"Not sure we need to look that faar for the key." He composed himself and turned to Gina.
"Sir?"
"Like you said, most things we're searching for are closer than we realize." He really should give Gina a raise just for her way with words. It was poetic on so many levels. Under his nose all this time. On his father. And his father. How many years had he spent running away from him, looking for meaning. And here he had found it, only after becoming the very thing he ran away from, right down to how he collected his prizes.
"Put a hold on that jet." He moved past her. "And keep an eye on things here."
"Where are you going?"
"To find that key."
"Well, I can help if..."
He strode out the door. "There were some things a man needs to do for himself."
*************************
Chloe dried her hands and pulled her phone from her skirt's pocket again. She was going insane. Clark rushed off to find Lana an hour ago now and she'd had no word since. Not a ring, not a vibration, not a... Not a signal! Last time she took a bathroom break on Clark-watch.
She rushed out into the nearly empty lobby, pacing, waiting for her bars to come back and maybe that tiny envelope that told her she had a voicemail or a text or... nothing. Her signal filled in, but nothing else popped up. She groaned and tucked it back into her pocket, heading for the stairs to the basement. It wasn't like she could go find him. He might need her to track power surges. She'd tried Clark's, she'd tried Lana's cell, she'd tried the house, all multiple times. Now she had nothing to do but wait, which was driving her insane.
There was nothing to distract her, even, with most of the night people on dinner break. God only knew what was going on and she was stuck waiting in the nearly empty Planet. But not empty enough. Her steps slowed as an intern passed. She wasn't the problem. It was the man waiting at the base of the stairs.
She stiffened, trying not to look at Lionel as he saw her and scrambled upward. She didn't want to associate with murderers.
"Miss Sullivan, you must talk to Clark. I need you to taalk to Clark," he said in a rush.
"Little late to mend that fence," she said cooly. "Amazing how a couple of cold-blooded murders can come between people." She strode to her desk. She had nothing more to say.
"No," he said, on her heels. "I have taken moral responsibility for every atrocity I committed in the past."
Maybe one more thing. She whirled on him. "The past? Try last week. Maybe even today. Who knows with you?" She moved around her desk, wishing he'd just go, preferably in handcuffs. But Lionel had got away with murder so many times, that she was hopeless of ever seeing that.
"I did not... did not kill Patricia Swann," he said insistently.
"After you knocked off her father and the rest of the Veritas coven of yours," she said, tired of even talking about it. It wasn't like she could do anything to him. Even her words had no effect. He could just keep lying. "I'm supposed to believe you why?"
"Because I was given a gift," he said in a nearly awed whisper. "I was chosen by Jor-El to serve him. To be his vessel, his emissary. And that changed me. That made me a different man."
Lies came so easily to him. "We're not stupid. You preyed on Clark's inherent need to find good in all people and his constant willingness for forgiveness. But now you have cried wolf one too many times."
"Miss Sullivan... Please..." She stiffend in revulsion as he actually got on his knees. "I'm begging you to listen. Clark won't talk to me. He's turned away from Jor-El. And now he is vulnerable. He is in terrible danger."
She stared down, unmoved by his sickening display. She was almost as disgusted with herself. How many times did she have to be burned by Lionel Luthor before she learned? She hated that she'd been off her guard with him. Things could have been different. Clark might not have been shoved in a cage, Patricia Swann might be alive. She wasn't falling for his lies. Never again. "If he's in any danger," she said evenly. "It's only from you."
"No! I've repented!" He put his damned hands on her and she felt a moment of naked fear before she shoved them off.
She refused to be afraid of him. It would make it harder to fight. "That's right. You're an intensely spiritual man. You amassed all the power a human could until you found out about Clark." Isn't it funny how his sudden turn for the better had started then? "Befriending him is the closest thing you'll ever get to seeing God." She pushed past him, nauseated now because, even if he believed every word he said, he had a downright creepy way of showing his devotion.
She was jerked back to face him as the bastard grabbed her again. "Protecting him is the only way I've found to pay for my sins." She froze as he pulled himself up. "And isn't that what we all want? To repent? And be forgiven?" He shook her, his eyes wide, his grip unrelenting. As useless as it was, she was afraid now. He could overpower her right now if he wanted to. She felt her body unclench as he let go. "But none of that matters. Because what's coming... is so terrible," he finished, his voice hoarse and fearful.
She'd commend his acting skills again, but... Her eyes darted away and back to him, wondering if there was something in... No. She was not getting taken in again. "Another false warning."
"No..."
"You seriously need to come up with a new line," she finished, grabbing her coat.
"No! It..."
She wouldn't stay for it. She hurried away and up the stairs. He was good. She had to give him that. He'd almost had her for a millisecond. She shoved her arms into her coat as she rushed through the lobby. She pulled out her cell as she neared the parking garage, decided to give the house another try.
"Clark, I can't wait any longer. Lionel just showed up and he was..." She trailed off as a beep sounded in her ear. It was Clark's cell.
She switched over, sighing in relief. "Clark, I've been going insane. What's going on? where's Lana? Lionel was just..."
"Lana's with me."
She sagged against her car. "Thank God. Well, where are you? Is she okay?" There was a long silence. "Clark?"
"We're at the medical center." She waited for him to go on. "She's... infected. I can't tell you everything right now. I need to... discuss options because they say there's nothing..." His voice cracked slightly and her heart dropped.
"I'm coming," she said hoarsely, pulling out her keys.
"No. I need you to stay there. You need to find Kara."
She froze. "Kara, too?"
She went with Brainiac. He said... he said he'd stop what he was doing to Lana if she went with him and... It hasn't stopped. Chloe, her eyes..."
She swallowed hard. "Clark, are you sure you don't want me to..."
"I'm fine, Chloe. I just need you to... I can't lose anyone else."
She nodded, silly as he couldn't see it. "I'll... check for more power surges."
"Good." There was another long pause. "I'll be there when I can."
He hung up and she stared at her phone, then moved out of the parking garage, every step heavy. She still didn't know what was going on, not exactly. But the sourness in her stomach was the same as the last time she saw Lex, so was the feeling. It told her she was right before.
Everything was going to change.
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Poor Chloe. She has no idea how bad things are going to get. And they definitely never get better.
At least I'm done with Veritas now. I almost want to draw out Descent forever because, as Lionel said, "What's coming is so terrible." I'm convinced he was talking about the Chimmy tango in Sleeper.
No comments:
Post a Comment