Emersion
by Glacis. No copyright infringement
intended. Spoilers through the end of
season 4 of Smallville.
Graduation day. Guess who didn’t get
an invitation to the ceremony?
Never mind
that nearly every parent and family member in the audience owed their
livelihood either directly or indirectly to Lex Luthor keeping the crap factory
open and protecting them from Lionel.
Never
mind the fact that Chloe, and her father, would be dead by Lionel’s command
without Lex’s direct intervention.
Never mind that Lana Lang’s home, her very own shrine to her
dead parents, would be a parking structure without Lex’s money and forbearance.
That Lana would have had to go with Nell somewhere… away… why did he
give in on that one, again? Lex thought
for a moment.
Oh. Right.
When
they weren’t lying to him, they were pleading with him. Sometimes they did both at the same time.
Which would also explain why Lex paid off the Kent Farm.
Not that even that merited him receiving an invitation to
the graduation ceremony.
Despite
the fact that
But
then,
Often.
When he
heard the meteors were coming, the man the world knew as Lex Luthor recognized
that his chance had come. When Lana Lang
came to him, tears dripping down her face as blood dripped from her hands, he
knew his patience would be rewarded at last.
He could
practically taste the power.
Then she
fucked him over.
Again.
He shoved
her in the helicopter after reassuring her with great sincerity that she meant
more to him than she would ever realize.
He meant every word.
The
stupid little air-headed princess would never understand just how important she
was to him. It wasn’t all about her, but
she was a key… the key to too many foolish men, blinded by her, who had between
them things he needed. Information. Elements. Obstacles to overcome.
Challenges to conquer.
She
needed him, idiot little lapdog caught in the midst of a pack of wolves. She needed him as much as he needed her,
though for vastly different reasons.
And when
he was finished with her, he would leave her in her precious time capsule with
the rest of the forgotten of Smallville, with the rest of the relics that had
outlived their usefulness, as he moved on to bigger, more important, and
infinitely better things.
As would
A tool.
A vessel.
Ultimately, disposable.
Lana was
gone before Lex could shake the truth out of her, before he could discover what
she’d done with the element. When the
situation was less fraught, he would have some smoothing over to do, but it
wouldn’t be too difficult. Lana was easy
to lead, after all.
Chloe
Sullivan, on the other hand, wasn’t. And
Chloe was standing in his study, in front of the destroyed bookcases with the
treasures secreted behind… one treasure less than there’d been moments before. Chloe knew more than she was telling.
Dragging
her by the arm down into the caves as she protested false innocence all the
way, Lex silently reminded himself why it wouldn’t be a good idea to simply
beat her to death and let her lies be over.
She knew
something.
He would
know it, too.
Then a
bright glow emanating from the fissure in the cave wall distracted him, and
once again, he was blindsided by a blow that sent him into the wall. Through tear-blurred eyes from yet another
blow to the head, Lex watched Chloe stumble forward.
The glow
grew unimaginably bright. From
somewhere, Lex thought he heard a scream of unbearable agony.
Lex?
Shrugging
off the scream as he shrugged off the pain, Lex forced himself to his feet.
Chloe
lay unconscious a couple yards from the now-darkened cleft in the rock. Lex stepped over her body and stared into the
shadows beyond.
Empty.
Not a
damned thing there.
Scorch
marks on the walls and the singularly dust-free rock floor indicated that
something had rested there until very recently.
He smelled charred rock and burnt ozone before backing out.
Too late.
Again.
He
stared blankly down at Chloe, who showed no signs of wakening. Why hadn’t he let her die in his Dad’s handy
safe-house explosion?
Oh. Right. He needed her testimony.
Plus, he
liked Gabe.
And he couldn’t find a way to save the father without saving the
daughter. She got a free ride out by
default of blood ties. Otherwise Lex
would have left her behind to roast.
Well, Lex wouldn’t.
Alexander
would have.
Smirking
down at Chloe’s still form, he stepped over her again and headed out of the
caves toward his house, leaving her behind.
The
meteors had stopped. Brush fires raged
across the terrain. Smoke filled the
air. The thought struck him briefly that
the ground was still unstable and there might be a cave-in.
No
matter. There was nothing left of value
in the caves anyway.
The
grounds were a mess, but the castle still stood, ignoring the meteors
pock-marking the land around it as if they were of no consequence
whatsoever. An attitude, no doubt,
borrowed directly from Lionel.
Lex
climbed the stairs, absently ordering the staff to begin clean-up work, then
closing the door after him once he’d attained his father’s room. The old man lay, blank eyes staring up at the
ceiling, exactly as he’d been placed, in the center of the bed.
Taking a
seat close enough to watch and be heard, Lex hummed under his breath as he
examined his father. It took him a
moment to recognize the melody, then he chuckled.
Harry
Chapin. Cat’s in the cradle. Well, the silver spoon fit, anyway.
He
wondered if he should just put an end to this now. He’d been through this once already, when
Walden overloaded and went on a rampage two years before. If Lex didn’t stop him, Lionel might wake
from his coma and go charging after
It would
be easy enough to stop. One nice fluffy
thick pillow held firmly over Lionel’s blank face and voila, done.
Of
course, Lex could always let nature take its course, as it tended to do with
Lionel, and trust that
Besides,
Jonathan would probably sue him for damages.
To the cows.
For ingesting Lionel’s ashes.
Lex
shook off the weirdly amusing if definitely morbid thought to find Lionel’s
hands and feet were beginning to twitch.
There was no light in the blank eyes yet, but soon…
Hmm. Lex thought about it, eyes
bouncing along his father’s extremities.
Dad.
Dad.
Who was
the bigger threat?
Who was
the more intriguing mystery?
Lex
picked up a pillow. He knelt, one knee
digging into the mattress, making Lionel’s body lurch. Lex looked down at the fingers barely
spasming against his thigh and smiled.
“Bye,
Dad.”
Pressed
down the pillow, and held it there until the twitching stopped.
In the
cold silence of the room, Lex’s voice softly echoed.
“…it
occurred to me. He’s grown up just like
me. My boy was just like me…”
Sometimes
late at night, or perhaps early in the morning, Lex would wake.
His eyes
would widen in the darkness. His mouth would
open, his throat tight, as he tried to scream for help.
Before a
word could leave his trembling tongue, the moment would be over.
Alexander
would turn over, smile into the pillow, and go back to sleep.
In the
darkness, chained and helpless, Lex would scream.
In the
morning, Alexander would return to Lex’s life.
No one
noticed. Cared. Helped.
Heard.
The
emersion of Alexander Luthor was complete.
emersion
1. The
act of emerging, or of rising out of anything; as, emersion from the sea; emersion
from obscurity or difficulties. "Their immersion into
water and their emersion out of the same." (Knatchbull)
2. <astronomy> The reappearance of a heavenly body after an
eclipse or occultation; as, the emersion of the moon from the shadow of the earth;
the emersion of a star from behind the moon.
Origin:
Cf. F. Emersion. See Emerge.
Source:
Websters Dictionary