kitten
18th February 2006, 15:14
Complicity (1/1)
R-rated Tomb missing scene
Disclaimers: Smallville, the characters and related indicia are not my property. This is a fan-supported non-profit work for entertainment only.
Distribution: I have posted these stories and have control of them on this site. I don't want them to be posted anywhere else unless I'm the one posting them. Please take down my stories if you have them posted on another archive site. I understand I can't stop you from doing this but I hope by asking politely you'll respect my work and my wishes. If anyone has more comfort and convenience saving the text of a story to their own computer, I have no problem with that.
Spoilers: General up to Tomb, but nothing too revealing about other episodes.
A/N: I couldn't sleep. This is the result. I think I overidentify with dead girls, but the whole Mikey-Gretchen relationship had a lot of similarities to the Lex-Chloe deal in season three. Angst, violence and creepy imagery warnings.
Complicity
She liked it - the bright, cluttered room filled with the girl’s things. If she’d had a dorm room, or a life at all, it would probably be the same. But that admiration was fleeting. She was grateful to the girl for releasing her, and wouldn’t waste the few hours among the living. The girl was screaming loud and ten years was too long to wait.
Chloe Sullivan didn’t keep her taser in her purse or her pretty red car. It must be there. She looked through the dresser and found it, learned how to grip it solidly and push the button with one hand. Tried it and imagined.
Mikey would pay. He had never gone far away from her. Sometimes he had driven past the building and smiled up at the window. He had laughed at her and driven away and she couldn’t stop him.
But now she could.
She felt the blond girl’s lips curve in a smile and marvelled at the idea of once again being flesh. She didn’t want to hurt the girl, but Chloe had wanted to help her find peace. It was hard to remember her own name, hard to remember all except her killer’s name. Chloe - her name was so hard to keep in mind, Chloe Sullivan - might be frightened and a little banged up afterwards, but she’d be fine. People had hurt her, too, and she knew why revenge was necessary. It was why Gretchen had chosen her.
It would be easier to walk, breathe and see through a body again if the screams would end.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
She twisted around to see a tall, bald man in the doorway. It was late and the room had been empty when she got there. The hallways were deserted. She should have locked the door but hadn’t, and the girl shrivelled in new fear. He looked like a bad man.
The girl stopped fighting her and spoke inside her mind. He is a bad man, she agreed. Don’t let him catch us.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that," she asked coldly.
His face took on a look of astonishment, as if no one ever spoke to him like that. He was quick to smile mildly and crumple his brow in concern.
"Chloe, you need help," he said, taking a slow step forward. "You should be in a place where people have the expertise to take care of you."
Lex shut the door and leaned against it, watching her bristle. She was holding her purse in one hand, her other hand down by her side. There was a window in the wall opposite the door, but it only opened a few inches for safety. She was trapped.
He had a look in his eye like Mikey had the day he killed her. She had thought it was lust or happiness, but knew it now. He was going to hurt her, thinking he was hurting the girl. She’d lost all her chances to learn anything more, but she would always know that look. Taught Chloe how to see it in the empty gaze.
"I need justice," she hissed.
He looked genuinely confused for a second and covered it by taking another step. There were only six more to go before he would be able to grab her.
"Justice? I don’t know what you mean. Explain it to me and I can help."
A burst of rage welled up from Chloe and Gretchen gave it words.
"You don’t care! You pretend! It’s all lies!"
She was trembling on her feet and he saw something violent shift in her expression. He wasn’t prepared to capture her like this. Chloe - in her right mind - would have been too smart to be in her own dorm room. She was so tense the room practically vibrated and hairs stood on his arms.
"I’m not lying, now," he promised softly. "I’m not always honest, but I am really worried about you. I remember how strange and confusing the world was before I got help. I want to make sure you don’t hurt yourself."
She snarled with teeth bared, like an animal, one hand clutching at her hair.
"No, you couldn’t know what I need. You can’t imagine what he did to me," she said hoarsely.
Lex froze in the middle of one of those small, easing steps, his mind catching on the statement. Some man had made Chloe this fearful, insane woman. He didn’t want to imagine how horrible the acts must have been to break her. She had been strong and getting stronger with each year.
"Who did it? What did he do?"
She folded in on herself, mouth crumbling into a child’s pout. She had backed up against the bed and didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Talk to him, Chloe urged. If you’re talking to him we still have time.
Gretchen knew bad men liked to talk, liked to take your secrets before they took everything. She looked at him directly and Lex nodded in encouragement.
"He was nice to me at first. We talked all night and he made me feel better. He gave me this."
She held up the bracelet on Chloe’s arm and smiled wanly, voice straining with emotion.
"But he was just pretending. Waiting."
He felt an involuntary shudder down his back from the hatred in her voice. He had used her more than once, and seen Clark do it many times more, but the man she was gunning for this time had gone much further.
"What happened then," he asked.
She let out a loud, painful sob.
"He said he had a surprise. Something I’d like. His smile was . . . different. He closed the doors, all the doors. I thought we might be going to-"
Gretchen flung the girl’s arms up and clutched at the skull, trying to dig at the pity she felt from the girl. She’d been so stupid, so easy to hurt. So simple-minded to be seduced by a cheap bracelet and a few conversations.
"He had ropes and a knife and he didn’t care when I cried that time."
Lex took a jerky step toward her, but her eyes blazed at him in threat. He had wanted to hold her, to try to offer some sort of comfort. Whatever problems he was having with her, Chloe hadn’t deserved that brutality.
"When he cut me up he told me it was peace," she whispered. "He was a liar. He deserves to die!"
He found himself nodding vehemently. Whoever had done that to Chloe did deserve to die in agony. She didn’t hurt anyone in the world, not even the people who had wronged her.
The girl was watching his face with awe, amazed at the sick horror it showed. She wanted to believe in it, but Gretchen knew better. Sympathy was worthless. Only justice mattered.
"I - I want to help you," he said. "He had no right."
Her head jerked up and she screamed into his face, startling him.
"He was like you. He wanted to kill me but he wanted me to help him do it. He wanted me to kill myself."
Inhibitions were at work every day in every human being. They held people back from the limits of their ability. When Chloe’s small hands drove into his chest, Lex knew she was beyond holding herself back. He stumbled back and she reached for her purse. Wrapping her hand around the taser, Gretchen jammed it into his torso as she ran into him. His hands closed around the wounds on the girl’s wrists, but she kept the button down.
They hit the door and he slumped, knees folding.
"Chloe," he gasped, terror in his eyes.
She smiled, viciously. Lex fought but his body was giving out. His eyes closed and he felt Chloe let his weight drop to the floor.
"You deserve to die, too."
His body shook, his eyes closed, and she felt Chloe Sullivan quake as he stopped moving. But the dead know death, and he was still breathing. She was only happy to have a demonstration to savour until she could do the same and worse to Mikey.
The girl was panicking, some stray sentiment making her want to call an ambulance for the bad man. Gretchen ignored it. Ten years was a long time to feel guilty over your own death.
She put the taser in the purse and rolled the man over so the door would open. Mikey wouldn’t get away.
R-rated Tomb missing scene
Disclaimers: Smallville, the characters and related indicia are not my property. This is a fan-supported non-profit work for entertainment only.
Distribution: I have posted these stories and have control of them on this site. I don't want them to be posted anywhere else unless I'm the one posting them. Please take down my stories if you have them posted on another archive site. I understand I can't stop you from doing this but I hope by asking politely you'll respect my work and my wishes. If anyone has more comfort and convenience saving the text of a story to their own computer, I have no problem with that.
Spoilers: General up to Tomb, but nothing too revealing about other episodes.
A/N: I couldn't sleep. This is the result. I think I overidentify with dead girls, but the whole Mikey-Gretchen relationship had a lot of similarities to the Lex-Chloe deal in season three. Angst, violence and creepy imagery warnings.
Complicity
She liked it - the bright, cluttered room filled with the girl’s things. If she’d had a dorm room, or a life at all, it would probably be the same. But that admiration was fleeting. She was grateful to the girl for releasing her, and wouldn’t waste the few hours among the living. The girl was screaming loud and ten years was too long to wait.
Chloe Sullivan didn’t keep her taser in her purse or her pretty red car. It must be there. She looked through the dresser and found it, learned how to grip it solidly and push the button with one hand. Tried it and imagined.
Mikey would pay. He had never gone far away from her. Sometimes he had driven past the building and smiled up at the window. He had laughed at her and driven away and she couldn’t stop him.
But now she could.
She felt the blond girl’s lips curve in a smile and marvelled at the idea of once again being flesh. She didn’t want to hurt the girl, but Chloe had wanted to help her find peace. It was hard to remember her own name, hard to remember all except her killer’s name. Chloe - her name was so hard to keep in mind, Chloe Sullivan - might be frightened and a little banged up afterwards, but she’d be fine. People had hurt her, too, and she knew why revenge was necessary. It was why Gretchen had chosen her.
It would be easier to walk, breathe and see through a body again if the screams would end.
"Where do you think you’re going?"
She twisted around to see a tall, bald man in the doorway. It was late and the room had been empty when she got there. The hallways were deserted. She should have locked the door but hadn’t, and the girl shrivelled in new fear. He looked like a bad man.
The girl stopped fighting her and spoke inside her mind. He is a bad man, she agreed. Don’t let him catch us.
"Why does everyone keep asking me that," she asked coldly.
His face took on a look of astonishment, as if no one ever spoke to him like that. He was quick to smile mildly and crumple his brow in concern.
"Chloe, you need help," he said, taking a slow step forward. "You should be in a place where people have the expertise to take care of you."
Lex shut the door and leaned against it, watching her bristle. She was holding her purse in one hand, her other hand down by her side. There was a window in the wall opposite the door, but it only opened a few inches for safety. She was trapped.
He had a look in his eye like Mikey had the day he killed her. She had thought it was lust or happiness, but knew it now. He was going to hurt her, thinking he was hurting the girl. She’d lost all her chances to learn anything more, but she would always know that look. Taught Chloe how to see it in the empty gaze.
"I need justice," she hissed.
He looked genuinely confused for a second and covered it by taking another step. There were only six more to go before he would be able to grab her.
"Justice? I don’t know what you mean. Explain it to me and I can help."
A burst of rage welled up from Chloe and Gretchen gave it words.
"You don’t care! You pretend! It’s all lies!"
She was trembling on her feet and he saw something violent shift in her expression. He wasn’t prepared to capture her like this. Chloe - in her right mind - would have been too smart to be in her own dorm room. She was so tense the room practically vibrated and hairs stood on his arms.
"I’m not lying, now," he promised softly. "I’m not always honest, but I am really worried about you. I remember how strange and confusing the world was before I got help. I want to make sure you don’t hurt yourself."
She snarled with teeth bared, like an animal, one hand clutching at her hair.
"No, you couldn’t know what I need. You can’t imagine what he did to me," she said hoarsely.
Lex froze in the middle of one of those small, easing steps, his mind catching on the statement. Some man had made Chloe this fearful, insane woman. He didn’t want to imagine how horrible the acts must have been to break her. She had been strong and getting stronger with each year.
"Who did it? What did he do?"
She folded in on herself, mouth crumbling into a child’s pout. She had backed up against the bed and didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Talk to him, Chloe urged. If you’re talking to him we still have time.
Gretchen knew bad men liked to talk, liked to take your secrets before they took everything. She looked at him directly and Lex nodded in encouragement.
"He was nice to me at first. We talked all night and he made me feel better. He gave me this."
She held up the bracelet on Chloe’s arm and smiled wanly, voice straining with emotion.
"But he was just pretending. Waiting."
He felt an involuntary shudder down his back from the hatred in her voice. He had used her more than once, and seen Clark do it many times more, but the man she was gunning for this time had gone much further.
"What happened then," he asked.
She let out a loud, painful sob.
"He said he had a surprise. Something I’d like. His smile was . . . different. He closed the doors, all the doors. I thought we might be going to-"
Gretchen flung the girl’s arms up and clutched at the skull, trying to dig at the pity she felt from the girl. She’d been so stupid, so easy to hurt. So simple-minded to be seduced by a cheap bracelet and a few conversations.
"He had ropes and a knife and he didn’t care when I cried that time."
Lex took a jerky step toward her, but her eyes blazed at him in threat. He had wanted to hold her, to try to offer some sort of comfort. Whatever problems he was having with her, Chloe hadn’t deserved that brutality.
"When he cut me up he told me it was peace," she whispered. "He was a liar. He deserves to die!"
He found himself nodding vehemently. Whoever had done that to Chloe did deserve to die in agony. She didn’t hurt anyone in the world, not even the people who had wronged her.
The girl was watching his face with awe, amazed at the sick horror it showed. She wanted to believe in it, but Gretchen knew better. Sympathy was worthless. Only justice mattered.
"I - I want to help you," he said. "He had no right."
Her head jerked up and she screamed into his face, startling him.
"He was like you. He wanted to kill me but he wanted me to help him do it. He wanted me to kill myself."
Inhibitions were at work every day in every human being. They held people back from the limits of their ability. When Chloe’s small hands drove into his chest, Lex knew she was beyond holding herself back. He stumbled back and she reached for her purse. Wrapping her hand around the taser, Gretchen jammed it into his torso as she ran into him. His hands closed around the wounds on the girl’s wrists, but she kept the button down.
They hit the door and he slumped, knees folding.
"Chloe," he gasped, terror in his eyes.
She smiled, viciously. Lex fought but his body was giving out. His eyes closed and he felt Chloe let his weight drop to the floor.
"You deserve to die, too."
His body shook, his eyes closed, and she felt Chloe Sullivan quake as he stopped moving. But the dead know death, and he was still breathing. She was only happy to have a demonstration to savour until she could do the same and worse to Mikey.
The girl was panicking, some stray sentiment making her want to call an ambulance for the bad man. Gretchen ignored it. Ten years was a long time to feel guilty over your own death.
She put the taser in the purse and rolled the man over so the door would open. Mikey wouldn’t get away.