The Secret Keeper

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We dance round in a ring and suppose,
but the secret sits in the middle and knows. -- Robert Frost

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It took several months for the Justice League to track Lex Luthor down.  It took almost an entire day for the Justice League to break through his defenses and storm his compound. Lex's minions fought back hard, but they were no match for Clark and the rest of the Heroes.

Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter dragged Lex out and threw him down at Clark's feet.  He lay on the ground for a moment, and Clark thought he would finally admit his defeat and his guilt, but Lex struggled to his feet and glared back at Clark stubbornly.

Clark lost his patience, at last. He grabbed Lex by the throat and shook him.

'Look at this!' he bellowed.  'Look at all those dead people.  You're to blame for it, Luthor. They fought for you.  If you had just turned yourself in long ago, they'd still be alive.'

'You killed them,' Lex insisted. 'They were volunteers. I gave them the choice, to stay or to leave.'

'To leave?  Leave how?  Feet first in a coffin?  They'd never have stayed with you voluntarily if they knew the truth.'

'What truth?' asked Lex.  'Your truth? How dare you speak of truth?  I've never known anyone to lie as much as you.  Not even my father.'

Clark hit him.  Not hard enough to kill him, but hard enough to break a few teeth.  Lex could afford to get them fixed, after all.

'Clark?  What are you doing?'  Chloe spoke up behind him.

'Teaching him a lesson,' said Clark.

Chloe looked a little pale, and no wonder.  The battle had been hard.  The ground was littered with the bodies of Lex's minions, and the blood of more than a few Justice League Heroes.

'It's okay, Chloe,' Clark told her.  'It's all over.  Luthor won't hurt you or anyone else ever again.'

'It's you I'm worried about,' said Chloe.  'We've won.  It's over, like you said.  What are you going to do now?  Stand here and beat Lex up?'

'I'm interested in hearing that, too, Chloe,' Lex choked out, through his bruised throat and broken teeth.  'Are you and your friends the new Gestapo?  Or do you have a warrant to arrest me?  And if so, I want to see it, and hear the charges against me. And I want my phone call and my lawyers.'

'Shut up!' screamed Clark.  'Your money means nothing here.  How dare you insult Chloe?  You're the Nazi, not her.  All this is your fault, and no one else's.  If you'd just minded your own business....'

'I was minding my own business,' said Lex.  'I'm human, and protecting the human race is my business. Should I have looked the other way, when aliens were invading Earth?  When mutants were running around killing people?  When....'

Clark knocked Lex to the ground, and this time he stayed down.

************

Three days later, Lex was still defiant, even naked and strapped down to a table, with electrodes attached to his head.

'You know,' he remarked in conversational tones.  'This has been tried before, by experts.'

Clark looked away, but Lex noticed his change of expression. 'You know something about that,' he said, making of it a statement, not a question.

'No,' said Clark.  'I know nothing.  But whatever happened, you deserved it.'

'And I deserve it now,' said Lex.

'Yes, you do.  You're responsible for the deaths of all those people you tricked into working for you.  You told them lies about... about....'

'About evil aliens invading Earth?' Lex suggested.

'Yes.  You're deluded, Lex.  You're sick.  We're curing you, so you can be returned to society.'

'Like my father did,' said Lex, in a wondering tone of voice.  'I remember that, now.  And you were there.  Some of that is coming back to me.  My father... he was asking me about you, something about you... and I could have told him, but I didn't.'

'You're lying. You're making it up. Trying to trick me. Trying to make me believe you were once my friend, but you weren't.  All you cared about was money and power.'

'And that's why I befriended you?  I see. Money and power.  Which do you have, Clark?'

'I have power, and you wanted it.  You wanted to use me, to control me, to rule the world.'

'So why aren't we ruling the world now, Clark?'

'Shut up.  You're confusing me.  You're trying to trick me.'

'Clark?  Clark?  What's wrong with you?'  Chloe was looking pale and sick again, as she entered the room.  'Why are you in here talking to him?  What's the point?'

'Yes, Chloe,' said Lex. 'Why doesn't he put a bullet through my head? For that matter, why don't you?'

'We're not like that, Lex,' said Chloe.  'We're not like you.  We have morals. You don't know what the word means.  We don't kill people, for example.'

'Only my people,' said Lex, coldly.  'You killed my people.'

'Like you care about that,' said Chloe. 'They were just machines to you. Something to use and throw away after.'

'Get the fuck out of here,' said Lex.  'Tell them to turn the machine up full blast, and let's finish this.  When I'm in a straight jacket, my mind burnt out, and babbling and drooling in a corner, I won't have to listen to any more of your bullshit. Go!'

************

It was midnight.  Clark finally decided to call it quits for the night.  Chloe sent him home to bed, and headed for her own apartment and a quick shower.  She dropped her purse on the table, and turned toward the bathroom.  A shadow moved against the wall, and the shadow took a form -- a giant bat.

Chloe opened her mouth to scream, but Batman raised a hand in protest.  'Please don't,' he said.  'I'm not here to harm you, Miss Sullivan.  We have to talk.'


************

'Don't you see?' said Chloe, for the hundredth time.  'Lex is a dangerous man.  We had to do something.'

'So you went to war against him.  Killed his employees, took him into custody, and you're now in the process of torturing him.  What method are you using?  Just out of curiosity.  Waterboarding?'

'No!  Of course not.  That's... that's barbaric.'

'What method are you using, Miss Sullivan?'

Batman's voice had turned icy, and Chloe felt a shiver of fear.  'We're not torturing him.  Exactly.  We're... we're trying to help him.  Clark says....'

'Clark is a dangerous man.  I'm far more afraid of him than I am of Lex Luthor.'

'You don't know Lex like we do.'

'I wouldn't assume such a thing, Miss Sullivan.  You don't know what I know or don't know.  What I do know is that Clark has gone too far.'

'How dare you?  He's going to be Earth's greatest hero.  He was sent here to save us.'

'By whom?' growled Batman. 'God? You sound like a member of a cult. Clark is building his own little religion, and it's based around himself.'

'That's ridiculous!'

'They cut me out of the loop,' said Batman.

'So that's why you're so pissed off.'

'They cut me out of the loop, because I protested their plans.  I've broken a few laws myself, but this?  What torture methods are you using?  Tell me now, or I call in the police.'

'You wouldn't.'

'Try me.  You and your friends broke so many laws, the cases would be before the courts for decades to come.  Murder.  Kidnapping -- that brings in the FBI, by the way. False imprisonment. Assault and battery.  Torture.... Need I go on?'

'It's Lex Luthor,' said Chloe, as if that explained everything.  Justified everything.

'What are you doing to Lex Luthor, Chloe Sullivan?  This is the final time of asking.'

'We're trying to erase his memories, using electrotherapy.'

'Therapy?  So, it's not torture, it's therapy?  You people make me sick.  I want you to look at something.  Where's your computer?'

'Why?  What are you doing?'

Batman put a disc in Chloe's computer, and it started playing.  'When your friends cut me out of the loop on the hunt for Lex Luthor, I went on a little hunt of my own.  I found a lot of information on Lex, on Lionel, on their relationships with Clark and with you.  Very interesting information, including some tapes, which I burned onto CD.  Lionel Luthor imprisoned Lex and used electrotherapy on him.  Did you know that?'

'Yes,' said Chloe.  'So what?'

'And you didn't care?'

'We cared,' said Chloe.  'Clark tried to help him, and how did Lex repay him?'

'Well,' said Batman.  'Why don't you watch the video? Maybe that will give you a clue.'

**************

'Clark, will you just look at the CD?  Please?'

'Why? It's all lies.'

'No. No, it isn't.  I checked it over pretty thoroughly, and it looks real to me.'

'Whose side are you on, anyway?'

'What do you mean, whose side am I on?  I've always been on your side. Always.'

'Until now.  Now you're criticizing everything I do.  What are you doing, Clark? What are you saying, Clark?  How could you do that, Clark?'

'Are you telling me this is something new?  What planet are your really from, Clark?  Krypton? Or Selfdelusioncrom?  I've always told you when you're full of crap, and you're full of crap now.  Watch the CD.'

'Why?' asked Clark, again.

'Because it shows Lex protecting your secret, that's why,' said Chloe, throwing up her hands in despair.  'I told you that.  I want you to see that.'

'It doesn't make any difference,' said Clark.  'So, what's the point in watching? I knew Lex didn't tell Lionel my secret, but that's because he wanted to keep it for himself to use against me.  It's too late, now.  Lex may have been my friend once, though I doubt that, but he certainly isn't my friend now.  He hates me. He thinks I'm dangerous.  He tried to kill me.'

'And he tried to die with you,' Chloe pointed out.  Clark had broken down and told her the truth about the events in the Fortress that dark night before they stormed Lex's compound.  'He told you he loved you like a brother.'

'He doesn't love me in any way, now,' said Clark.  'It's too late.  We have to go on with it, don't you understand?'

'No,' said Chloe.  'I don't understand.  Are you so pig-headed that you can't admit you made a mistake?  Do you have to cover up your mistakes with... with torture?'

Clark stood up and loomed over Chloe.  She held her breath, feeling a sudden shiver of fear, that she had never felt with Clark before, not really.  Clark had behaved brutally in her presence, a number of times, but this was different. This was a cold anger, and it was directed at her, and her alone.  This was different.

'Don't ever accuse me of things like that again,' he said.  He grabbed the CD from her hand and vanished, leaving a trail of wind-strewn papers in his wake.

************

'He won't listen to me,' said Chloe, to the shadows.

'You say he took the CD.  Maybe he'll watch it alone, some time tonight?'

'Maybe,' said Chloe, though she didn't feel much hope.  Even if Clark watched the CD, his attitude to Lex seemed too fixed to change much. And there wasn't much time left, though Chloe didn't say so. Batman already knew.

'Listen,' said Batman.  'If you really want to help Luthor, I know of an ally.  I'll introduce you, if you promise not to reveal this person's identity.  If you betray us....'

'No,' said Chloe.  'I'm not on Lex's side, exactly.  I'm on Clark's side, still. But what he's doing is wrong, whatever way you slice it.  I've tried reasoning with him, but there is no reasoning with him.  It's... there isn't much time left.'  There! She had broken down and admitted it.

'Fair enough,' said Batman.  'Come with me.'

***************

'Absolutely not, Batman.  I knew I had to be crazy to trust someone dressed as a bat, and I was right.'

'Chloe knows the territory....' Batman began.

'And so do you,' Tess interrupted.

'And Chloe is still trusted, and I'm not.  They know I was opposed to their plans, and they've left me out of everything they've been planning since.'

'That's what tyrants do,'  said Tess Mercer.

'We're not tyrants,' said Chloe.

'No?  Really?  What exactly separates you from the tyrannical, Miss Sullivan?  You're not running the world yet, I grant you.  You only just started killing off your opponents.  You have merely one inmate of your own private torture chamber, so far.  So, compared to the Nazi regime, you're small fry.  But you have the resources to go on to do so much more.  With people like Clark on your side?  There will be no holding you back. Soon, this tiny backward planet will be too small to hold you.  There's a whole universe out there to conquer.'  Tess illustrated her point with a sweeping gesture of her arm.  A gesture that pointed out she was holding a loaded pistol in that hand.

'Don't talk nonsense,' said Chloe.  'We're not tyrants.  We're not taking over the world.  We're not....'

'What exactly are you doing, Miss Sullivan?  Enlighten me, please?'

'We're helping people.'

'Helping people?  Helping them to do what?  To die?  Some of my friends died when you stormed Mister Luthor's compound.  I wasn't there.  He'd sent me away to carry out some private business, or I would now be dead too,  because you would have captured Mister Luthor over my dead body, or not at all.  Do I make myself clear?  Good.  Well, since this little exercise in futility has proved to be futile, I should be going.'

Batman sighed, dramatically.  'Going where?' he asked.

'Going off to rescue Mister Luthor, of course,' said Tess.  'If there's anything left to rescue.  And to kill whoever is responsible for his imprisonment and torture.'

'All that will be easier with Miss Sullivan's help.'

'No.  She will betray us.'

'I won't,' said Chloe.

'It's what you people do,' said Tess.  'Clark Kent betrayed Mister Luthor on several occasions.'

'No!'

'I have evidence for my claim.  Reams of evidence.'

'I don't see what any of this has to do with....' tried Batman.

'I don't see how you can see anything in that mask,' said Tess Mercer.  'Why should I, or indeed anyone in this world, let people like you take over our lives?  Mister Luthor was trying to learn the truth about mutants and alien invaders.  He was trying to protect the world from those who would endanger it.  And how did you and your friends treat him?  You lied to him and beat him and tortured him.'

'He had no right,' said Chloe.  'No right to investigate Clark.'

'Mister Luthor was investigating alien invaders,' said Tess.  'Is Clark one of them?'

Chloe was silent.

'Because if he is,' Tess went on.  'Then you are a traitor to the human race, and deserve to die.'

'Clark isn't an alien invader,' said Chloe.  'And he's good and kind and only trying to help people.  He's a hero.'

'Yes,' said Tess.  'I've seen his goodness in action, against someone who was only trying to learn the truth.  The truth shall set you free,  unless you're an enemy of Clark Kent.  Who the hell is Clark Kent to dictate what Mister Luthor should or shouldn't know?  Explain that to me.'

'Lex was not just investigating those things.  He was kidnapping people and torturing them.'

'What people?  I've never known Mister Luthor to do any such thing.  Do you mean the mutants he took into custody and studied and released?  Because that's just the point, isn't it?  I think....'

'None of this is the point right now,' Batman interrupted.  'Even with my mask I can see that. The point isn't who is the most evil. The point is, are we going to rescue Mister Lex Luthor, or not?  That's the point.'

************

'What were Chloe and Batman thinking?'

Clark was staring at his computer screen, watching Lex jerk and shake under the influence of too many volts of electricity.  He didn't answer.

'Why did they give you that thing?  What was the point?'

'They wanted me to know the truth,' said Clark.

'The truth?' Oliver echoed.  'That... that crap isn't the truth.  It can't be.'

'Chloe swore she'd checked it out pretty thoroughly,' said Clark.  'And it all fits.  Lionel did use electrotherapy on Lex.  Weeks of it.  Several years ago.  When we were still... friends.  I tried to rescue Lex, but he got caught and taken back to Belle Reve.  It all fits.'

'But Lionel knew your secret.  Maybe Lex told him, in the end?'

'No.  Lionel learned about it later.  If Lex told him, Lionel wouldn't have been able to resist crowing about it to me. About how Lex had betrayed me.  He hated Lex, in the end.'

'Yeah, well that goes to show you.  If a man hates his own son, the son must be rotten to the core.'

Clark looked up from  the screen, curious.  'Why do you hate Lex?' he asked.  'What did he do to you?'

'He was just such a jerk,' said Oliver.  'Always smirking, like he owned the world, like he was born an aristocrat, or something.  But he was nothing.  It was all an act.  The manners, the way he stood and walked, like he was better than everyone else.'  Oliver gestured at the screen.  'It's all an act, like that tape,' he said.  'It's faked.'

'But... but why?' asked Clark, clearly bewildered.  'Why would he make a fake tape like this?  For what purpose?'

'To mess with your head, because it is messing with your head.  He's not your friend.  He never was your friend.  He always lies and tries to manipulate people. It's what he does.  Like in school.  He tried to argue with us -- my friends and me.  He wouldn't accept that we knew the truth about him -- that he was a fake.'

'Yes?' said Clark, not paying much attention.  He was watching the screen again.  'Would you do that?' he asked Oliver.  'If someone was trying to torture my secrets out of you, would you just let them?  Would you risk dying for me?'

Oliver Queen flushed.  'Well... of course,' he said.  Not very convincingly.  'But he didn't.  Lex didn't, I mean.  He's never been that noble.  Not even close.  Look what happened with Zod.'

'Zod?' asked Clark.

'Zod took him over, remember?  Used his body to rape and pillage the earth?'

'Yes,' said Clark.  'I know.  I was there.'

'You were there,' Oliver agreed.  'You were fighting him.  So you know.'

'That wasn't Lex, that was Zod,'  said Clark, as if to a particularly dense child.

'I know, but something in Lex made Zod pick him as his vessel.  Something about him made Zod think he could use him.'

'Zod could have used anyone,' said Clark.  'He just used Lex to get to me, because we'd been friends.  Sort of.'

'I think it was more than that,' said Oliver.  'That's why....'

'That's why what?' asked Clark.

'Nothing.'

'No.  Tell me. That's why what?'  Clark stood up, tall and threatening.

'It's nothing,' Oliver insisted.  'But I was curious.  I had Lex abducted and studied.'

'You? You were the one?  You kidnapped Lex and Lana?'  Clark looked Oliver up and down like he hadn't seen him before.

'Why are you being so self-righteous about it?' asked Oliver.  'You have Lex strapped down to a table just like in that video.  Why is it okay for you and not for me?  The guy needed dealing with, and we're dealing with him.  Get over it.  Turn that thing off and let's get back to dealing with him.'

Clark looked a bit sickened by Oliver's words, but then his expression changed.  He lifted his head and stared through the wall.   'Chloe,' he said.  'What's she doing here?  And Batman.  And... Oh, my God.  They're freeing Lex.  We have to stop them.'

**********

'He looks... gone,' said Chloe.  'Empty.'

'Help me get him on his feet,' growled Batman.

Tess stepped up to Lex's other side, and they hauled him up off the table.  'Let's get out of here, now,' she said.  'Jerry!' she addressed her aide.  'Watch the door.  Keep an eye out for anyone coming. I don't trust Miss Helpful Sullivan.'

'I'm helping you rescue Lex,' said Chloe.  'I told you why I'm helping you.  You can trust my reasons for helping you, if not me.  I want him out of Clark's life, the same as you.'

'Not quite the same as I,' said Tess.  'I want your Clark's head on a pike.  I want to write my memoirs in Clark's blood.'

'Can we continue this conversation elsewhere?' said Batman.

'Yes, we can,' said Tess.  'And we will.  Miss Sullivan, you go through the door first'

The aide opened the door, and gestured Chloe through.  Chloe stepped out, Batman following.

'Chloe!  What are you doing?'

Chloe looked up.  Clark was coming toward her, Green Arrow right behind him.

'I knew it,' hissed Tess. 'Traitor.'

'No, I didn't do this,' said Chloe.  'Stay back, Clark.  We're taking Lex out of here.'

'So you've turned traitor,' said Green Arrow.

'I'm doing this for Clark.  I'm saving him, because he's destroying himself with his hate.  Look at what you've done to Lex.  You should be a hero, saving people, not torturing them.'

'Lex tortured people,' said Clark.

Tess snarled something about hypocrites and liars and heads on pikes.  Clark started forward, not as fast as he could move, and clearly he wasn't about to create a holocaust of violence.  He thought he had everything under control, but that must not be allowed.  Chloe hated to do it, but she now had no choice.  She opened her pocket, and took out the small lead box concealed there.  While Clark's attention was centred on Tess and Lex, she opened the box.

Clark fell to his knees.  'Chloe?' he gasped, reacting to the green kryptonite.  'How can you?  Why?'

'I told you why,' said Chloe.  'We're leaving now, but I'll be back later, and we'll talk.'

'I wouldn't bother coming back if I were you,' said Green Arrow.

'Don't threaten me,' said Chloe.  'I've been friends with Clark for years.  He'll listen to me.  He has to listen.  He's not like this -- the way he's been acting.  I'll talk to him, and he'll see things my way.'

'Your way?' asked Green Arrow.  'You're the one who's wrong.  I agree the torture went on long enough, and all things must come to an end, but not this way.  Not letting Lex go free to continue his depravities.  It's time to end that for good.'

Green Arrow raised his bow so fast that Chloe only saw a blur, but she still managed to throw herself in front of Lex in time.  The arrow pierced her shoulder.  Tess moved just as fast.  Her bullet hit Green Arrow square in the chest, piercing his heart.  He fell to the floor, gasping and writhing.  Tess stepped closer and shot him again, in the head this time.  Green Arrow jerked once or twice, and lay still.  He was dead.

Clark cried out, 'Chloe!'  He tried to struggle to his feet, but Tess kept moving, bending down to pick up the dropped green kryptonite. She strode on, stepping over Green Arrow's prone body, until she was standing over Clark, the rock in her hand.  

'If I had time,' she said, sweetly.  'I'd stay and enjoy this. I'd wring every last drop of your blood and your sweat and your tears from your body, until there were no more.  And then I'd saw off your head with my nail file.  We're leaving now. Don't follow us, or I might make the time to do all those things, and then some.  Got that?'

'Don't hurt Chloe,' Clark gasped out.  'Or I'll do all that to you, word for word.'

'I'm not going to hurt Chloe,' said Tess. 'I need her.  She'll be unharmed and free to return here in a day or two, to continue your little talk about justice and mercy -- if you stay here like I told you, and don't try to follow.  If you follow us, all bets are off.  What do you have to say for yourself, Miss Sullivan?'

'I'm fine, Clark,' said Chloe.  'It's only a flesh wound.  Don't try to follow, like Tess said.  I wasn't forced to do this, Clark.  I joined of my own free will.'

'Good,' said Tess.  'You seem to be growing some wisdom, after all.'

************

'Ouch!' said Chloe.

'What a wimp,' Tess commented, vaguely.  She was staring out the window, considering the state of the world -- or what she was going to have for dinner.

'I hate needles,' said Chloe.

'All done,' said the doctor.  'Stitches, bandage, tetanus shot.'  She picked up her bag and left the room.

'I should get my head checked, too,' said Chloe.  'Throwing myself in front of arrows.  What was I thinking?'

'That if Mister Luthor died, Hell would have no fury like unto that which I would release upon the Justice League, perchance?' asked Tess.

'Yes,' said Chloe.  'Perchance that. And Clark would never forgive himself if Lex died like that.  But really, I wasn't thinking. I just reacted.'

'It seems to be a habit among your kind.  Reacting without thinking, I mean.  Like Green Arrow.  He sees Lex Luthor, he shoots to kill.  Why?  What did Mister Luthor do to him?  I've looked into the matter at some length, and have yet to find the reason.'

'They were at school together,' Chloe pointed out.

Tess turned from the window.  'And Mister Luthor stole Green Arrow's eraser?  Copied his test answers without asking?  What about you, Miss Sullivan?  Do you hate Lex Luthor?'

'Hate?  No.  I don't like him much....'

'So you collaborated in his torture because you don't like him much?  How fortunate you don't hate him.'

'That was wrong of me, I admit,' said Chloe.

'No?  Really?'

'But I've made up for it.'

'Not quite,' said Tess.  'He's still in a vegetative state.'

'I should be able to fix that,' said Chloe.  'I should be able to heal him.  And Lex has amazing powers of recuperation, all on his own.'

'I'm not trusting to his own powers, however amazing.  I would appreciate your assistance. But not tonight.  You need to recover, yourself.'

Chloe started to get to her feet, protesting,  'I'll be fine.  I can do this.'

Tess stepped in front of her, and pushed her back down.  'Mister Luthor is resting and he's stable.  From what you've told me about your powers, it could be dangerous if you used them in your weakened condition. We'll reconsider tomorrow.  Get some rest, okay?'

'Do I have much choice?' asked Chloe.  'I'm like a prisoner here.'

'Prisoner? Hardly.'  Tess looked surprised and offended.  'Please don't consider yourself a prisoner.  I don't.  But I also don't think you've repaid the debt you owe Mister Luthor until you've tried to heal the damage you and your friends bestowed upon him.  Can you guarantee that if you leave here tonight, your Justice League friends won't try to prevent your return?'

'No,' Chloe conceded, bitterly.  'And they're not my friends, I think.  Not any longer.  Clark?  Maybe.  The others would agree with Green Arrow, and see me as a traitor.  Especially since you killed him.'

'In self defence,' said Tess.

'And he was trying to kill a defenceless man,' said Chloe.

'Yes,'  Tess purred.  Her hand was resting over Chloe's heart.

Chloe's heart was pounding, for some reason.  The tone of Tess's voice.  The warmth of her hand.  The look of approbation in her eyes.  It was so odd.  Wrong maybe, too.  Not because Tess was a woman.  Chloe had long suspected she was interested in women, though she had never experimented in that direction.  But Tess was a friend of Lex's.  More than that, his lieutenant.  More than that, she was dangerous.  She was a killer.  Chloe had seen her kill, not hours before.

Tess had bright green eyes. Her hands were warm, as they caressed Chloe's breasts.  Chloe was only wearing her bra, because the doctor had been stitching up her shoulder.  Tess reached around to undo the hooks, and Chloe's bra slid away entirely.  She shivered at the touch of the cool air on her bare nipples.

'I shouldn't be bothering you,' said Tess.  'You're not feeling well.'

'I'm fine,' said Chloe, through a breathless throat.  'I'm feeling fine.  You're not bothering me.  But what are you doing, exactly?  Are you.....'

'You're a hero,' said Tess.  'You saved Mister Luthor's life.  I think you should have a hero's reward.'  Her mouth came down on Chloe's, warm and soft and hard, all at once.

********

The tap at the bedroom door woke her.  She reached across the bed, but it was empty, and she sat up to look around. Then the night flooded back toward her.  Tess.  Their kisses.  Their passion.  The argument at the end, and Tess's banked anger that had led to more passion.  Chloe felt both more self-aware and more confused than ever.

Someone tapped at the door again.  Chloe pulled the sheet up around her neck and answered.  'Yes?  I'm awake. Who's there?'

'Miss Sullivan, Miss Mercer asked me to bring you breakfast.'  The bedroom door opened.  A maid wheeled a cart, with an assortment of covered dishes, up to Chloe's bedside.  'If you would like to order anything else, please ring,' she said.

'No,' said Chloe.  'This looks fine.'

The maid curtsied and left the room, closing the door behind her softly.  Chloe lifted a few covers.  Belgian waffles.  Strawberries and whipped cream.  Orange juice that looked -- and tasted -- freshly squeezed.  Coffee.

A small envelope.  Beautiful cream notepaper.  Impatient handwriting.  Chloe sighed.

    Dear Chloe;

    I lied last night.  It was not about rewarding you.  It was all about me.  You entrance me.  You are intelligent and beautiful and brave -- and you're on the wrong side.  But that is your business.  You are not a prisoner here.  You owe me nothing.  This is not a brush-off, merely a statement of fact.

    You do still owe Lex something.  You owe him the chance to regain his life, since you helped to take that from him.  You don't owe him your life, though.  Don't kill yourself permanently, trying to save him.

    I will see you later tonight, and take my cue from you.  If you don't want to continue our discussion of last night, I will accept that.

    Yours,

    Tess


Chloe sighed again, and got out of bed to dress.  Did she want to continue their 'discussion'?  Was there even a point to their discussion?  They would never agree on the relative merits of Lex's point of view, as opposed to Clark's.

But should their lives be ruled by what their menfolk thought?  Chloe thought not.  Tess was right about at least one thing, however.  She did owe Lex, and later that night, she would try to pay her debt, whatever the cost.

**********

'Chloe!'  

Clark Kent stormed into the LexCorp office where Chloe Sullivan was now working.

'Stay back,' she said, pulling the kryptonite rock out of her pocket.  Clark backed off, looking hurt and bewildered.  'I'm sorry, Clark, but I warned you.  I don't want to talk to you right now.'

'Chloe, I'm worried about you. You nearly died.'

'I'm fine, as you can see.  Please leave, now.  I'm not going to be dragged back to the League to be brainwashed by you and your friends.'

'How can you say such a thing?' asked Clark.  'You've turned against us completely.  Or is Lex controlling you, somehow?'

'Lex? Leave him out of this.  And Tess isn't controlling me, either.  No one is.  Just get any idea like that out of your mind, before we have any kind of conversation.  Is that clear?'

'I don't understand you.  What have I done to deserve this?'

'You know what you've done.  I was there, remember?  Who's going to be next, to be mindwiped?  Me? Your mother?'

'So it is about Lex?  Why do you keep nagging me about it?  Why does it bother you so much?  You agreed that Lex needed to be stopped.  After what he did to you and your mother….'

'I hated what he did.  It was wrong.  But he did it for a reason, Clark.  He was worried about alien invasions, and Supermen ruling the world.'

'That's ridiculous.'

'Is it?  You can stand there and say that to me, after what we just did?  After what you just did?  Was Lex so wrong, Clark?  I used to think he was wrong.  I thought we were in the right, that we knew how to protect the world against evil. But now I think we fell into a trap.  We did evil things with good intentions, just like Lex did.  So, how are we better?'

'Of course we're better, Chloe.  How can you even question it?'

'I am questioning it.  You should, too.  Go away and question it, and when you're ready to discuss the matter, we'll talk.'

'You mean, when I see things your way, don’t you?'

'No. I mean, when you're ready to admit that I have a point.  And when you're ready to look it from Lex's point of view.  That might be a good idea, too.'

'I'll never do that,' said Clark.

'Then don't come back here,' said Chloe.  

**********

'Mister Kent to see you, ma'am.'

'Thank you,  Kelly. Send him in, but stay close by.'

Clark Kent came in, looking as arrogant as ever, but at least he was walking in through the door, like any normal visitor.  Tess stood up, politely, to acknowledge that much.

'Please, Mister Kent, have a seat.  But don't get too close to my desk.  I have green kryptonite handy.'

Mister Kent flushed.  'I told you this was a polite visit only,' he said, taking the indicated seat, nevertheless.

'How kind of you,' said Tess.  'Have you spoken with Chloe?'

'Yes.  We had a… short conversation.  She says she's feeling better.  But she was... out of it for over twenty-four hours.'

'She was, and I was very concerned.'

'I'm sure,' Kent snarled.

'Oh, but I was,' said Tess.  'You don't know how concerned.'

'You were concerned about Lex,' said Kent.  'He's the be-all and end-all of your existence.'

'And Clark Kent is the be-all and end-all of Clark Kent's existence,' said Tess.  'Yet we but dally.  I have more important things to do than spar with you, and I'm sure you feel the same.'

'I'd like to see Lex,' said Clark.

'I'm sure you would.  But he wouldn't like to see you. Well, maybe that's not true.  If he were capable of seeing anyone and recognizing them.  If he were capable of recognizing anything at all.  If he were capable of doing anything but staring into space and smiling blankly.... I'm sure he'd be happy to see even you, in that case.'

'I'm sorry,' said Clark, in a choked voice.

'Not as sorry as you're going to be, if Mister Luthor's condition doesn't improve,' said Tess.

'There's a chance, then?'

'As Chloe has pointed out, Mister Luthor is very resilient, and she has offered to try again....'

'No!' said Clark, jumping to his feet.

'That's not for you to say, Kent,' Tess interrupted.  'That's up to Chloe.  She's not your little gopher any longer.'

'No?' said Clark.  'She's yours, is she?'

Tess laughed, merrily.  'You have no idea,' she said.  'Now if you don't mind....'

'I do mind,' said Clark.  'I want to see Lex, even if he can't see me.'

'Why?  To finish what you started?  To crow over the ruin of a great man, a great mind? To ask him for more favours?  I know about all that.  I know that Mister Luthor saved your family's home and livelihood on several occasions.  He saved your life, and the lives of your friends, and asked for nothing in return.'

'He investigated me,' said Clark.

'In my considered opinion, he didn't investigate you thoroughly enough.  If he'd really made a study of you, he would have realized long ago what a scumbag you are, and saved himself a whole lot of trouble.  And me.'

'I want to see Lex,' said Clark.

'He was right about one thing, though,' said Tess.  'You are relentlessly stubborn.  Whether that's a virtue or not, depends on what you're being stubborn about.  You can see Mister Luthor, but with me there, and Kelly, too.  I have green kryptonite upon my person.  Threaten Mister Luthor in any way, and what I threatened you with the other day will start to seem like a vision of blessed mercy and kindness.'

'Just take me to Lex,' said Clark.

************

'Lex?  Lex, it's me,' said Clark.

'That's enlightening,' Tess commented.

'Shut up,' said Clark.  'Lex? It's me, Clark.  Can you hear me?'

Lex stared into space, his smile never altering.

'He must be braindead,' said Tess.  'In his place, I'd be foaming at the mouth, now.  Are you satisfied?'

'I didn't want this,' said Clark.

'No?  You could have fooled me.'

'Let me know if there's any change,' said Clark.

'Oh, yes,' said Tess.  'You're at the top of my list.'

Clark turned to go, then stopped at the door to say, 'I wonder if he can still hear us? And I wonder what he's thinking?'

**************

Lex Luthor stepped up to the podium, to accept his degree.  The youngest PhD in the history of Harvard University.  His father and mother smiled from the audience.  His brother, Julian, bounced in his seat, and clapped.

Superboy flew in, and clapped Lex on the back.  'I just wanted to congratulate my best friend,' he said.  'I'm glad I was able to get here in time.  Right now, I have to get back to fighting for Truth and Justice, and the American Way, but we'll talk later.  Okay?'

'Okay,' said Lex.  'I have a surprise for you.'

'I can't wait,' said Superboy.

Superboy was Lex' s best friend, and Lex had been working hard to find a cure for the effects of kryptonite.  At last he'd found it, and tonight he'd give it to Superboy.

Also, Lex was planning on telling Superboy that he knew the truth.  Superboy's secret identity was Clark Kent.  Clark Kent was a great guy, but a little shy and retiring.  His parents were a lovely couple, and Lex liked them a lot.  He was hoping that Superboy would realize he could be trusted with the secret, and then they'd all be close friends.

The Kents and the Luthors.  The stuff of Legend.  


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No one ever keeps a secret so well as a child. -- Victor Hugo

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***THE END***

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