Brand new fic that *gasp* is finished. I'll just stagger the posting for fun's sake on my part. My other 'angst' fic may have fallen more into the general category but I insist that this one won't. Don't expect a happy end, all righty?
Author: Rant
Name: Run
Rating: R
Summary: Chloe and Lex trapped together following the occurences of Exodus. Slightly AU, but I think it could possibly fit in with canon given a quirk or two. (And I may just be fooling myself, but so what?)
A/N: This is Angst. Angst Angst Angst. May not make you cry, but I was hoping to make some shivers go down some spines. It follows a song by Veritical Horizon called 'Shackles'; the first 'chapter' is actually the lyrics to the song and the appropriate verses introduce each chapter. There are seven chapters, total.
Disclaimer: All is disclaimed besides the storyline in itself which came form my own twisted mind. Enjoy!
*********************************** ~ ***********************************
Run, Chapter 1
For so long my life's been sewn up tight inside your hold
And it leaves me there without a place to call my own
I know now what shadows can see
There's no point in running 'less you run with me
It's half the distance through the open door
Before you cut me down
Again
Let me introduce you to the end
And I feel the cold wind blowing beneath my wings
It always leads me back to suffering
But I will soar until the wind whips me down
Leaves me beaten on unholy ground again
So tired now of paying my dues
I start out strong but then I always lose
It's half the distance before you leave me behind
It's such a waste of time
'Cause my shackles
You won't be
And my rapture
You won't believe
And deep inside you will bleed for me
So here I slave inside of a broken dream
Forever holding on to splitting seams
So take your piece and leave me alone to die
I don't need you to keep my faith alive
I know now what trouble can be
And why it follows me so easily
It's half the distance through the open door
Before you shut me down
Again
Let me introduce you to the end
'Cause my shackles
You won't be
And my rapture
You won't believe
And deep inside you will bleed for me
Though you know you care
'Cause my shackles
You won't be
And my rapture
You won't believe
And deep inside you will bleed for me
And my laughter
You won't hear
The faster
I disappear
And time will burn your eyes to tears
'Shackles' by Vertical Horizon
*********************************** ~ ***********************************
Run, Chapter 2
And I feel the cold wind blowing beneath my wings
It always leads me back to suffering
But I will soar until the wind whips me down
Leaves me beaten on unholy ground again
The passes around their necks had photos on them… not that they would have been needed. Anyone would have recognized them anywhere, the Golden Ones of the Daily Planet. Clark Kent. Lois Lane.
How incredibly Golden they were.
They didn’t look at each other as they followed the armed officer down a darkened hallway, cold concrete rising on each side of them. Clark’s glasses slipped a little down his nose, but he didn’t bother to push them back up, barely gripping his hand tighter around the handle of his briefcase. Lois carried nothing but a pad of paper, a pen tucked into the front pocket of her stylish pantsuit. She’d wanted to bring in her laptop, but it hadn’t been allowed. There had been curses muttered for the first five minutes of their walk before she’d fallen into silence; even she knew that this day was more important than having to bother with the trivial things.
They spared each other one glance as the guard in front of them slowed, pointing out a room in which their guest was waiting. Lois walked past the other man without saying a word, while Clark uttered a polite thanks and followed after her.
The room looked empty at first glance, until they looked to the side and saw him. Despite the orange jumper, the plastic pitcher of water beside him (no Tyant here, no sir) and handcuffs around his wrists, this room was like any other. Lex Luthor owned all. Luthors always did.
“Lex,” Clark nodded curtly at the other man. “This is Lois Lane.”
“Of course.” As everything else about him, there was no doubting the confidence in his voice. Looking at Clark’s partner very coolly, he bowed his head slightly and said, “Miss Lane. It’s a pleasure.”
“I’m sure it is,” Lois answered shortly. She slapped down the pad of paper on the table and practically tore the pen out of her pocket, snapping it open with a loud click and then looking at him intently. “How about we get down to business, Mr. Luthor.”
“So nice to have the pleasantries out of the way,” Lex smiled vaguely at her before looking up at Clark and gesturing for him to sit down. “I’m glad that you could make it upon my request.”
“You know I wouldn’t have been able to turn it down, Lex,” Clark said as he sat.
“How long has it been? Seven, maybe eight years?”
“Just about,” Clark popped open his briefcase, retrieving his own writing props and a tape recorder. He showed it to Lex before pressing the record button and setting it down on the middle of the table. Speaking clearly to the recorder, he said aloud, “Date, August fifteenth. Reporters for the Daily Planet, Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Interviewee, Lex Luthor.”
“Professional,” Lex remarked. “I’m impressed.”
“You said you had something important to tell us,” Clark pushed up his glasses and opened up his own pen. “Please begin.”
Lex sighed at the two people in front of him. They both wore stoic expressions on their faces; he would have hardly told the difference between them and a couple gargoyles brought in from Gotham. Even so, there was no one else he’d rather speak to, there were no other two people in the entire world that he’d rather let know everything he was about to say. Shaking his head slightly, he said, “I’m not sure how much of this you’ll be willing to put into print, Clark. Miss Lane.”
“Try us,” Lois said with false sweetness. “We’re here to serve.”
Lex raised an eyebrow at her, but said nothing in return. Instead he looked at Clark and angled his head at Lois. He watched with interest as Clark spared her a side-glance and visibly nudged her leg from under the table. Lois glared at him for a split second before looking back at Lex. “Mr. Luthor, we’re ready when you are.”
“Very well,” Lex consented moving his hands around a little, the chimes of shaking metal accompanying his every change in position. “Very well.”
********************************* ~ ************************************
Seven, maybe eight years ago…
The darkness was all around her, clouding her senses and playing games with her eyesight. She tried to lift her hands to block the sharp branches from whipping into her face, gouging her skin, but found too soon that it made her pace slow. Because of that, she tried to keep her arms at her side, pumping them in tune with her running legs, using them sparely when it came to protecting herself.
Her breath was labored, her skin glistening with sweat in the little light that was provided through the break in trees. Though she ran quickly, her feet barely made a sound against the mossy ground of the forest.
Just a little more. Just a little more. Get further, they can’t find me if I just run a bit further.
But she’d been running for ages and that feeling was still inside of her, that absolute knowledge that any second now that they were going to jump out from behind the next turn. Just a little more. Just a little more.
She was chanting that to herself when he stepped out right in front of her. A fist was in the air before she could dodge it and then Chloe Sullivan knew absolutely nothing but the pure black of oblivion.
********************************* ~ ************************************
“You’re lucky you found her. Luthor would have had your head if she got away.”
“He might still. But, damn, she’s faster than I thought.”
“I warned you. Just because it’s not the other one doesn’t mean she won’t fight as much. Or as mean.”
“Oh, believe me, I’m very aware of how special this one is.”
The fluorescent lights hurt her eyes, so Chloe kept her eyes tightly shut as consciousness brought her back. It was just as well, because the two men standing over her body would have stopped their discussion in a second if they realized that she was overhearing them. Bearing that in mind, she kept completely still as they continued.
“He needs to give us another guy, we can’t keep an eye on both of them in different rooms. It leaves us too open for another escape.”
Other one?
“I’ll talk to him about it first thing in the morning.”
“So do I just put her back in the same place?”
“Are you kidding me? If she got out of it once, she’ll get out again.”
“Then where else?”
Silence.
Then. “Put her in the other room.”
“What?”
“Just do it. He might like the company in any case.”
“Don’t you realize what they can do if we put them together? They’ll be gone within the hour.”
“No, they won’t. His room’s more protected by the alarms anyway, and we can keep an eye on both of them at once instead of splitting our guard. Just do it, all right?”
“Fine, fine.”
A burly arm was looped around her waist and Chloe let her body go limp as her mind raced. There was more? Another room? Another person? Him?
The trip was short before she heard a series of locks being let loose and a number of beeps of a code being disarmed. The man holding her shifted her slightly, but she kept up her rag doll ruse as he entered a dimly lit hallway and encountered another door. The same sounds followed before that same door opened and she was dumped unceremoniously on the cold concrete floor.
“Looks like a lucky day for you. You got company.”
The door closed quickly behind her and Chloe waited several seconds before lifting her head cautiously. The room she’d been deposited in was dark, but a first glance assured her that it was inhabited. Her mouth went dry as she saw who was sitting on the single cot on one end of the room, eyeing her suspiciously.
“Lex?”
********************************* ~ ************************************
He’d recognized the blonde hair at once. There was no one else in Smallville who had hair like that, save Whitney Fordman and everyone knew he’d bit it somewhere overseas. Lex slowly rose from his seat and crossed the room to help lift her up. She was wary when he offered his hands, but reached up and took them anyway, dusting herself off once she stood. But no amount of patting would take away the bruise that had fully formed around her right eye, leaving the skin around it purple and swollen.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
Lex lifted one half of his mouth in a wry grin at her first words besides his name. “I’m supposed to be a lot of things, Chloe.”
He could feel her eyes on him as he returned to the lumpy cot and sat down.
“But your plane crashed. I read about it. I heard about it. Your father said they couldn’t find-”
“Surely you wouldn’t believe anything that came out of Lionel Luthor’s mouth,” Lex said shortly. “I would expect your inquisitive mind would have seen behind the convenient façade. Especially since you’re here with me.”
Chloe’s face drained of color, making the bruise on the upper portion of her face seem all the more drastic. She cleared her throat and looked away before saying, “I guess you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right.”
He watched her as she ran her hands back over the sides of her head, mussing the hair that had, from what he saw now, pieces of twig and leaves entangled within it. His gaze held as she began to pluck out the invading objects, wincing as they pulled at her scalp.
Lex slowly shook her head at her.
“What?”
“I’m wondering,” he said carefully, “Just what exactly you did to put you in here. A petty offense certainly wouldn’t cause Lionel to make someone disappear like me. For someone not saying very much, you’ve incited my interest quite well.”
“I am to please,” Chloe replied with saccharine sugar in her voice. She finally gave up on her hair and gently touched a finger to her face, flinching from the obvious pain.
“Don’t do that,” Lex’s voice was unnaturally soft as he waved her over. He grabbed a plastic cup from the ground a fished out a few pieces of melting ice out from the water. Chloe took them from his offering hand and placed them to her face.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
“I am to please.”
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