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Thread: The Villain in Me (NC-17) (Updated 02/15/2015)

  1. #11

    Re: The Villain in Me (NC-17) - Chapter 2 First Loves

    Thanks for the story love! I really enjoy writing from Lex POV - his mind is so complex and fun!

    Also just a brief advertisement - I posted about seeing if people were interested in doing a fic/art/vid swap for Chlex over the winter here:
    http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/...Chlex-exchange

    You would pick what you would like to do, but I wanted to open it up to authors, vidders, and artists alike.

    If this is something you think you would like to do, please let me know on the post or a PM.

  2. #12

    The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 3 The Rabbit Hole

    Chapter 3 - The Rabbit Hole


    There has always been a darkness inside me, but I know the exact moment when it began to eclipse the light.

    It was the first time I killed.

    The first time I took up a weapon in anger and used it to snuff the life from another. I had come close once before as a boy, but was stopped. Though I still thought Duncan, my friend, died anyway when he was hit by a car after I beat him bloody.

    Even so, there is a difference between almost killing and actually killing.

    And the man I killed didn't even really exist.

    His name was Louis and he was just a figment of my imagination, a malaria delirium.

    Or maybe he was a part of me.

    He was trying to kill me, so I killed him instead.

    When I returned to Smallville, I remember speaking about it to Clark. I didn't tell him I had killed, or the nature of my delirium, but I admitted to the impact it had on me. I still remember the exact words of my reply when he asked what had happened to me on that hellish island.

    "Something I didn't know I was capable of. It's ironic. In the most remote solitude I still managed to find an enemy. I suppose I was just hallucinating from malaria, but the enemy I found was real. I got a good look at myself, or at least the part I've always tried to ignore."

    Clark's answer was surprisingly thoughtful. I learned later he had quite a bender over the summer as well. "Lex, I guess we all got to take a look at our dark side sooner or later."

    "The problem is if you stare at it long enough, it can get hard to tell the two sides apart."

    Even now, I'm not sure what part of me was the true killer. What I did know was that if any part of me was to be saved, I needed to find a light.

    I knew it was a false hope even on that god-forsaken island, but I still hoped it would be Helen. Then when she tried to kill me yet again, I even turned to my father.

    I couldn't have chosen two worse people to lean on.

    It was only by following another lost soul down a rabbit hole of secrets and lies would I finally start to see the light in me again.

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

    I got "Welcome back from the Dead" flowers, messages, and invitations from everyone from The First Bank of Switzerland to the Kents. But not a peep from Chloe. We weren't exactly friends; in truth, we were only slightly better than casual acquaintances, but I still remember being rather disappointed. Not hurt, just...disappointed. I thought she would be glad of my non-death. She was one of the few people in Smallville that I thought saw me for myself and not my name.

    As it turned out, it was my allying with my name that was the reason for her radio silence.

    Upon my "death," my majority shares in Lexcorp were willed to my father. He promptly returned my company to Luthorcorp. The outstanding Lexcorp shares that had been purchased by my employees the previous year were also bought back, and the employees' jobs were returned back under the Luthorcorp umbrella.

    Upon my return, I could have chosen to tear my company away from Luthorcorp again since it had been wrongfully dispersed, but I didn't. The betrayal of my wife, and my near-death had left me somewhat rudderless.

    Overall, my company was actually performing better under Luthorcorp than it had been under Lexcorp. I didn't see the point in a drawn out legal battle when things had been managed well in my absence. There was no more talk of closing the plant. Lexcorp employees had been well compensated for their shares and their mortgaged properties cleared of debt.

    I admit to a certain weakness at this point. Even if the company had been doing poorly, I don't know if I had it in me at the time to go against my father. Bruised as I was, I wanted to belong, not to fight. I wanted to see everything work out. I wanted to be a part of the family business again, not a rival. I thought I could find peace there.

    I was wrong.

    What I didn't think about, was how the employees I had left behind would see my return to the family fold. I had only looked at the financial aspect and saw they were above board. It never occurred to me to think they would still expect more from me. I had been removed as their ally and leader, why would they would still want me to represent them? Why would they still expect loyalty from me? It was such a foreign concept, it didn't cross my mind once. But then, I didn't think anyone ever expected anything from me but the worst.

    From Chloe's point of view, my nostalgic return to the Luthorcorp fold was a betrayal. From the very beginning, her father Gabe had been one of my strongest supporters both under Luthorcorp and then Lexcorp. In fact, he was one of the main parties that convinced other employees on my Lexcorp buyout plan. He had successfully run the Lexcorp plant for me, and when the company reverted to Luthorcorp, he had been quietly reabsorbed. I don't know how Gabe saw it, but when I returned from the dead and chose to work for my father instead of breaking Lexcorp free, Chloe saw this as traitorous to the employees that had stood with me. They had fought to break free with me, but I had returned to the Luthorcorp fold without any fuss.

    I know now that I went about it all wrong. I should never have submitted so easily to my father. He only saw it as weakness. For Chloe's part, I wonder now how she would have reacted if I had fought. Even if I lost.

    As it was, with my capitulation, came the end of my independence. And the independence of those working under me. We were now all subject to the whims of my father. Including Gabe.

    What I didn't know was my father was applying no little pressure on Chloe because of that. Lionel had also come to discover what I had the previous year. Chloe Sullivan was an invaluable resource for the weird and unexplained of Smallville.

    What neither my father nor I ever could have guessed was the exact direction one of Chloe's investigations would take.

    Me.

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

    A week or so after my triumphant return to Luthorcorp, I was attacked outside the office. Clark saved my life (again), this time from a bullet fired by a disturbed kid. Clark explained I was on the kid's -- Van's -- hit list because he thought I may have some sort of meteor ability. What he didn't say was why anyone thought I was meteor altered.

    Turns out, one of the many research projects Chloe was working on was identifying possible meteor infected individuals. I had made her list.

    It seems her interest in me went beyond a Torch article.

    On my way back into Luthorcorp headquarters after meeting with the police, my phone rang.

    Chloe Sullivan showed on the caller ID. I was surprised...but strangely pleased. Few people were as unintentionally stimulating as the young blonde. She hadn't reached out to me since before my disappearance, and I found myself missing our interactions. I was unsure what would finally bring her to contact me weeks after my return, but I forced myself to let the phone ring three times before answering.

    "Yes, Chloe?"

    "Lex. Are you alright? Clark told me about the attack."

    I was surprised by her concern, but didn't let it come through the mocking tone I employed. "I'm fine, Chloe. I've been through much worse recently than a deluded adolescent." I paused a moment, but she didn't reply immediately. I could almost hear her thinking. Probably about how much to tell me of her real reason for calling. I decided to prod her. "Was that the only reason for your call? Concern for my welfare?"

    "Ummm...no."

    I waited silently. Interesting thing about people, most hate silence. If you use it well, they will tell you almost anything just to fill the sound void. Chloe was no exception.

    "Lex, he went after you because of me."

    I froze in my tracks. She had my full attention now. "Explain." I said in a clipped voice. I didn't like being threatened.

    "I was...researching you."

    "Researching?"

    "Yes. I have a...list. I thought you may be meteor infected."

    "Why would you think that?"

    "You're kidding, right?"

    "I've never been more serious, Chloe."

    "You survived the meteor shower, a near-fatal car accident, and a plane crash. You heal extremely fast and never get sick. You have a white blood cell count that is off the charts. How does all that happen without some sort of boost?"

    I paused. She had a point. I didn't think to question how she knew my medical details. Chloe had incredible resources for someone just 17 years old. That wasn't important right then anyway. The important part was...she may be right. I had never thought the cause of my surviving so much might be because of...me.

    "I'll take your theory into consideration, Chloe."

    "Do it or don't. I gave you the warning about you being on the list Van is using. My obligation is fulfilled."

    "Your obligation? Is that how you see me?"

    "What else would I see you as...Mr Luthor?"

    I didn't miss the switch from Lex to 'Mr Luthor.' Or the coldness that entered her tone at the words, though I didn't understand it. We had been casually friendly before I left. What changed? Something to do with my being a Luthor, which was new for Chloe.

    Before I could spend anymore time pondering, one of my security people waved for my attention.

    "I need to go, but your warning has been noted...Chloe." I was very careful to emphasis my use of her first name. We were battling over something, and I knew that the casual use of her name wouldn't be missed as a sally.

    I hung up without letting her get out another word.

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

    That night I started a new investigation. Or rather, an alternate to an existing investigation.

    Could the reason for all my close calls and near-death escapes be found within my own DNA?

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

    Shortly after that my mind is blank.

    I lost seven weeks of my life thanks to the electroshock my father had me subjected to in the mental hospital. I only have short snippets and impressions of that lost time.

    Interestingly, though I have almost no memory of those lost weeks, I still have feelings about what happened. My intellectual connection to the events during that time may be gone, but not my emotional reactions.

    Trust doesn't come easily for me. I also don't understand when people give me their trust without my earning it.

    So it was the strangest thing when I found myself trusting Chloe Sullivan without knowing why.

    Though that didn't stop me from firing her father from Luthorcorp when my father requested it.

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

    A few weeks after I got out of the mental institution and had resumed work under my father at Luthorcorp, I became the surprising shelter for Chloe Sullivan. She summarized it well when she said my mansion was the last place anybody would look for her. I had just fired her father and I knew Lionel had him blacklisted as well. I felt a little bad about that since Gabe was a good man, but I wasn't willing to battle my father over it.

    On top of that, my father had taken back the Torch computers, which were how the email killer was selecting attackers to go after Chloe.

    So when Clark called and asked me to hide Chloe while they tracked down the email killer, I agreed. As to be expected from any story of Chloe's, it proved fascinating. Even more important, Doctor Garner and Summerholt gave me hope for recovering the lost seven weeks of my memory. Sadly, that part never came true, but like so many leads in those early days, I had Chloe to thank.

    Though, again, she didn't know about that.

    At the time, I don't know why I was so surprised that Doctor Garner would go to such lengths to attempt to silence her. I was equally dismissive of Clark's initial guess that my father might be been behind the attempts on her life.

    Chloe did have a way of pissing off the high powered and morally challenged, even while she was still a minor.

    I know, for me, there were days when I didn't know if I wanted to kiss her or kill her myself. Maybe it was the mix of the two that made her so irresistible.

    After seeing her safely into my care, Clark left to talk to Doctor Garner, leaving me alone with Chloe. I remember looking up at her and being struck by her strange expression. She looked...lost. It was such an odd look for her. It made her seem scared and naked and very young.

    The look brought forth an equally strange response in me. I felt...protective. As a rule, I don't shelter people in their weak moments. I take advantage of them.

    That wasn't what I felt watching Chloe. I wanted to guard her.

    I found it an uncomfortable sensation.

    I gave a quick excuse and abandoned her alone in the library. Though I did tell her to make herself at home.

    Huh. Maybe I should have chosen my words with more care. Now I wonder where she decided to snoop since I gave her such a perfect opportunity. I have no doubt she did.

    As it turned out, I really shouldn't have been so concerned for Chloe's safety. Over the course of two days, the little blonde fought for her life against four determined attackers and won.

    I should have been concerned about all the digging she would do left alone in my library.

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

    After securing our cyber killer, I confronted Doctor Garner myself. The research that Chloe had done for her article on Summerholt was very impressive. I could now see why he was willing to kill to keep it suppressed. I decided to use it as leverage to force Garner to cease his attacks against Chloe, as well as help me try to recover my lost memory. I even employed a classic blackmail technique to do it. I took the moral high ground while forcing him to my will.

    The attacks against Chloe stopped immediately. As a further balm, I had the computers returned to her beloved Torch.

    Unfortunately, the memories I sought of those lost seven weeks remained elusive, but other, older, ones would come to light.

    Not even I can always win.

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

    Next time around it would be Lana in need of protection. That was considerably less unusual. I actually thought of Lana as a friend, in part because she was one of only a handful of people completely at ease in my presence. Lana was also easy to understand, and her damsel-in-distress manner was appealing. She was warm, kind, uncomplicated, and always saw the good in people.

    This made her a born victim.

    Enter Adam Knight.

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

    I like puzzles. I always have. I like them even more when those puzzles are people.

    I like them less when they threaten someone I care about.

    Adam Knight. His behavior and records didn't match even under the most cursory investigation. The warning signs were all there. I just needed to know if he proved a threat.

    I was starting to form my own suspicions about "Adam Knight" when I saw I wasn't the only one thinking to solve the puzzle of the mysterious new man in Lana's life.

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

    I wasn't the least bit surprised to find Chloe also on the case. She is fiercely protective of those she cares about, and quickly saw the irregularities in Adam as well as I. During a concert at The Talon, I watched her covertly enter the apartment above and followed. I couldn't resist watching her for a moment. She was clearly an old hand at snooping, because she bee-lined for one of the most common places people think they are clever to hide things. Under the bed. If I hadn't interrupted her, I'm sure her next stop would have been the underwear drawer. As it was, I let my eyes roam over her curvy backside as she crouched to look under the bed. The backside was sweetly rounded and very distracting. I thought idly about what kind of underwear she might have on under the snug pants she wore. I was only brought back to my senses when she got up from the floor. Surprised by my train of thought, I went on the attack to cover my silent ogling of her.

    "Last I heard, breaking and entering were still against the law," I told her.

    "I could say the same thing to you," she replied without a trace of guilt.

    I've always enjoyed our riposte, and this was no exception. We exchanged what little we knew about the new boy in Lana's life. Then, knowing we had reached a tacit agreement to work together on this one, I left her to her snooping.

    Delegation was how I looked at it. Chloe was one of the best investigators that not even money could buy. I would let her follow the trail and she would come to me if and when I was needed.

    I knew she'd uncover the truth.

    And of course, she did. And it was more than I ever could have dreamed.

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

    She easily outpaced my own half-hearted investigation and traced a serum from Adam's apartment, investigated his records, and tracked down a high-level researcher at Metropolis University before hitting a brick wall and bringing me back into the loop.

    That's the thing about Chloe, she doesn't ask favors. She collaborates. Maybe that is why we had never become friends, even though we shared so many people in common. She never needed me like Clark and Lana did.

    I didn't know it at the time, but she had learned about debt and obligation from the same hard tutor that I did - Lionel Luthor.

    Only when we were allies did she come to me. Like she did with Doctor Tang.

    Chloe was right, my name and connections did get me in to see the good doctor. Then I used those same tools to blow the lid on her illegal research and get her fired when she refused to play nice with me. Unfortunately, Doctor Tang chose to shelter under my father's wing instead of mine. Even so, I had a new piece for my puzzle.

    Then both Doctor Tang and Adam Knight disappeared.

    Chloe had found answers there too -- both the who and the where. Luthorcorp.

    She really is quite amazing, isn't she?

    However, that is where I decided I had to step in. Both for her sake and mine. I couldn't risk her making my father aware of our investigation or have her put in danger.

    Stupid protective instinct.

    Looking back, maybe I should have let Chloe handle it. I overplayed my hand, and my father put me on the hook for the murders of Doctor Tang and her research staff.

    Things suddenly got much more complicated and I had to cut a deal with the FBI to escape the setup. That fateful agreement would set off an unstoppable chain reaction that would start the first cracks in my friendship with Clark, make an enemy of my father, and lead to my unexpected rescue by the little blonde.

    But that came later.

  3. #13
    NS Full Member TrinityR's Avatar
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 3 The Rabbit Hole

    Liked it

  4. #14

    The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    CHAPTER 4 - A Tale of Two Girls

    In the months after my return from death, the island, and then the mental institution, my connections to the people in my life went through several shifts. Some for better, some for worse. The most striking of these changing relationships was between myself and two young women.

    I built a stronger bond with Lana, something I thought was a real friendship.

    And Chloe and I were first really drawn together.


    Lana was a friend to me from some of my earliest days in Smallville. She was easy to know and understand. She was also one of the rare people in town that was willing to look past my last name. She felt comfortable around me from almost the first day we met, and was easy asking for help from others. Even from people she barely knew. In many ways that was a good quality. Most people were eager to help the beautiful young brunette, and I was no exception.

    Unfortunately, this also put her on the radar of dangerous and undesirable people. They saw her as an easy target. A target that could easily be manipulated and controlled.

    Again, I was no exception.

    Chloe was Lana's opposite in many ways. Lana loved her coffee shop, but it wasn't part of who she really was. For Chloe, being a reporter wasn't about what she did or where she worked. It was a part of who she was in her soul. This was also both a good and bad trait. Her curiosity and pride in her skills got her into more trouble than twenty cats let let loose in a fish market. But those same traits also sharpened her mind and instincts into weapons that she then used to break herself free. Though not without cost.

    That the two became such friends never failed to surprise me. Lana with her prom-queen looks and sweet temperament. Chloe with her fire and snark.

    Not to mention their shared love of Clark Kent.

    Any two lesser women would be trying to claw out the eyes of the other as a rival. Instead they became roommates and friends.

    How remarkable.

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

    The two young women were so different -- Chloe and Lana. Though between them they found far more than their fair share of trouble. How exactly that trouble came to the girls and how they dealt with it said so much about them. For my part, I tried to protect Lana whenever I could, and Chloe whenever she would let me.

    Mostly trouble seemed to find Lana. She was rarely the one that sought it out. In the same way, she always looked outside herself for help. Once after being attacked, she came to me for self-defense lessons, but stopped after several weeks. Though she did keep some of the skills learned, she instead mostly chose to rely on others for protection and help. Beautiful Lana, a true damsel in distress. What she never quite understood was that few knights are as pure-hearted as Clark Kent. I'm certainly not.

    Such weakness is a vulnerably and I exploited it to reshape her without conscious thought. I didn't have any intentions when I did so, but it is second nature to me to reform people and circumstances to my best advantage. I thought it was friendship, that I was making her stronger, but I wasn't. I was making her more and more dependent on me.

    All action fell to me. All problem resolution was because of me.

    That isn't a real friendship. That was me allowing someone to work their own way into my debt.

    Not so Chloe. She seemed to seek trouble at every turn. She was always poking her nose into dangerous territory and relying on her own quick wits to save her. She genuinely thought she could bluff/sneak/think her way out of any trouble. Shockingly, she was mostly right. It also helped that she had great good luck. The number of lucky saves she had was almost equal to my own.

    Even when she did get in over her head, she rarely sought help from others to save her. Her seeking shelter with me from the email killer was an exception.

    And of course there was Clark. But then, there was always Clark -- asked for or not.

    It wasn't until much later that I really understood why Chloe so rarely sought help from others. Caught in a weak, vulnerable moment, her curious nature and hubris allowed her to fall prey to an unscrupulous manipulator. From him, she learned her lesson well about owing favors from the same hard teacher as I did - my father. When Chloe failed to abide by the terms of the "agreement" he set with her, Lionel decided to use his power over her father's position to teach her a lesson.

    And to make it worse, I was the tool my father used to exact his pound of flesh. I fired Gabe Sullivan and blacklisted him at my father's order.

    But that didn't keep Chloe from fighting back. In fact, I think that was a major miscalculation on my father's side.

    Very few people decide to put themselves up as opponents to my father. Very few win. Even fewer live to enjoy their victories.

    None were high-school girls.

    From Lionel, she learned better than to let another person gain any control over who you are. I'm still impressed that even his mastery failed to turn her into his puppet. In fact, she managed better than I ever did. No matter how much I fought it, I still became in large part who my father made me.

    But I'm getting ahead of myself. This is about Lana and Chloe, and how I shaped one, and the other shaped me.

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

    Part of my nature that came from my father was how I handle people. Or more accurately, how I manipulate them. Some people are so easy to manipulate, that I don't even realize I'm doing it. It's just second nature to me.

    For example, Lana.

    If you ask most people that knew Lana before and after our ill-omened marriage, they would say it was during that time that I twisted her, corrupted her.

    That isn't true.

    It was much earlier than that.

    Though the reasoning was still the same. I realize now that even back then, I was trying to manipulate Lana into becoming a match for me. Or more accurately, I was trying to shape her into the woman that was already the perfect match for me.

    Chloe.

    I just didn't realize yet that she was. I had a hard time seeing past her youth, funky clothes, and bright, wild hair.

    Besides, I wasn't ready to accept that I wouldn't need to "fix" her to be my match. I didn't understand then that if you have to tear a person down and rebuild them to fit an image, the final result wouldn't be a partner or an equal. The result would be a twisted, broken shell.

    Maybe that is why the people I find the most fascinating are the ones I have difficulty manipulating. I also find them much more frustrating. People like Clark. And Chloe.

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

    I've found there are two main types of people that are difficult to manipulate. The first are people like Clark. People that suspect you are playing a game, but either don't care or refuse to play. These people can often be hurt by manipulations, but rarely end up placed how you would desire.

    The second type of person are those like Chloe. People that see the manipulation, understand it, and are willing to use, follow, break, or tease out the game to fit their own needs. The second group can make intriguing opponents. When they are incredibly clever and determined young women they can be particularly riveting opponents.

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

    That year, the more I got to know Chloe, the more I found myself pushing at Lana. Her sweet nature and desire to help people made her easy to manage, easy to understand and control in a way I never could with Chloe. Without conscious thought, I used my power over Lana, trying to shape her into the other girl. The more Lana came to me for help and advice, the more I pressed her. She put up some resistance, but I'm very good at what I do. She caved. Every single time. I don't think I made a single suggestion that year that she didn't conform to. I really thought I was helping her, but it was easy. Lana was always the type of person that let herself be defined by others. First her Aunt Nell, then her quarterback boyfriend, then Clark, then me. The pattern would continue through many other iterations, with her giving up control of her own self to another.

    Years later, when I decided to pursue Lana, her capture was a forgone conclusion. I knew exactly how to handle the young brunette to bring her to heel. She was weak and I exploited that to bring her to me. Without conscious thought I had been pulling her tighter and tighter to me for years. Unfortunately, by the time she was fully mine, all those actions deformed her. The creature in her skin was barely recognizable as the the sweet innocent she had been before she tangled herself in my web.

    Unlike Chloe.

    Chloe. I could never touch the core strength of her -- to corrupt it or capture it. She had reservoirs of will deeper than some oceans. Chloe was able to match me -- both with me, and later against me -- but she was the exception. The only exception.

    Chloe had a pragmatism that let her see and manipulate the gray of life. The fascinating element was how she learned how to properly wield it without letting it inside. She would get some hard lessons early on that showed how damaging such compromising weapons can be. So she learned how to use them without succumbing to it herself. She channeled the gray without letting it touch the light within her.

    And when the time came, she could fight darkness with darkness. The trick to it was, by then she knew never to use it against someone undeserving. This protected the core of her, the brightness and clarity of her.

    She would use darkness against me. But then again, I certainly deserved it.

    There was a time though, when she used her light for me. Light that would tempt, haunt, and obsess me for the rest of my life.

    But not yet.

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

    If you truly want to know a person, one of the most interesting experiments you can do is to give them their desire and see how they react.

    For Lana, this was acceptance into a Paris art school. A ticket out a Smallville and a chance to start fresh. At first she balked over it, but I was able to show her that if you have the chance to grow, to achieve a dream, you take it. You don't quibble over the life you leave behind. As with all things, she gave in and decided to go to Paris. There was no way for us to know it at the time, but that trip would set Lana on the road to a strange and powerful darkness.

    For Chloe, her granted desire was the ability to learn the truth from others. To get all the answers she so desperately craved.

    Those hard lessons I mentioned? This was one. Chloe got her greatest wish, and employed it ruthlessly. For good and ill.

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

    When Clark told me "a friend" of his had been snooping around the Levitas lab and been exposed to the substance there, I knew immediately who it was.

    Chloe Sullivan.

    No one else was likely to break into one of my labs just on the off chance there could be something worth the snoop.

    This left me severely conflicted. The gas had a 100% mortality rate, but I couldn't think of another person that would be more likely to use their truth-telling ability more effectively than the little blonde. If she could get my father to admit to something that could satisfy the FBI, that could get me off the hook for the set-up of the lab murders.

    But I didn't want her to die either.

    So I decided to play both ends of the odds. As soon as I knew of the break-in, I had my team scrambling to find a cure, but until it was ready I would employ Chloe as an interrogator.

    I made a call to the little blonde and told her I had an urgent matter to discuss concerning a Luthorcorp project that had me concerned. I asked her to come meet me at the mansion.

    She swallowed the bait whole.

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

    She was waiting in the study by the time I made it back to the mansion from the Levitas lab. I knew she wouldn't be able to resist the lure. Especially when it was true. "Chloe, thanks for coming."

    "Yeah, well, I only have a minute. Clark just called me about a story that broke at the hospital, so..."

    "Then maybe you can just give me the abridged version of your field trip to Luthor Corp the other night. Let me guess... somehow, no one can resist telling you the truth." Her expression never changed.

    "Are you looking for an apology?" I suppressed a smile, though I think some of it may still have come through. Brashness and honesty all in one. I admired that.

    "No." An apology was the last thing I wanted. I gripped her arms so she would understand how important my next words would be. "Chloe, I want you to use your gift to help me get back the weeks my father stole from me."

    "Lex, I don't think your dad would go to such extremes to destroy those memories if they didn't pose some sort of a threat to him," she said with narrowed eyes. "Maybe you should just leave it alone." Then she walked away. My mind works fast. Even before she got to the door I realized two things.

    One, she may be protecting me. That was a very strange concept, but it led me to thought Two.

    If she knew to protect me...she must know what she was protecting me from. I said as much...in my way.

    "Why do I get the feeling you know more about this than you're letting on?"

    "I don't know anything about that." Before I had time to challenge the lie, she went on the attack. "I do know that because of you, my dad can't get a job. So why would I help you?"

    And I had to tell her the truth. Even though I hadn't meant to.

    "Because my father is the one who ordered his dismissal." I had to pause and admire how well the Levitas gas worked, even against me. Or maybe for me...I looked at her conspiratorially. "You know that's the truth, don't you?"

    Her face turned pained. I was worried for a moment before she attacked again. "Meaning that my family's future is just one chess move in the endless game of one-upmanship played by you and your dad?"

    "It's not a game, Chloe. You're the only one who can get me the truth." When my father put me on the hook for the murders he broke the rules. With a single stroke he showed me how little I mattered. I was just another tool to be wielded. My silly delusions of a better relationship between us after my return from the island were just that. Delusions.

    Her eyes narrowed and she paced around me in a slightly predatory way. It was an odd sensation to feel stalked by Chloe Sullivan. "Why do you keep doing this to yourself? Why can't you just walk away from your father?"

    Lost in my own thoughts, I replied without even trying to fight the truth compulsion. "Because he won't give me the only thing I've ever wanted from him."

    "And that would be?"

    Then I saw the trap, a yawning void. I wanted to say "respect" or "freedom" or "control of the company." But I couldn't fight the Levitas.

    "I want him to love me."

    My first reaction was shame. I had never wanted to admit how much I wanted that. Even knowing it would never happen. Then I realized it was the first time I had ever really admitted that. Certainly not aloud. I hadn't even wanted to admit it to myself, but there is truth in the old saw. The truth can set you free. Saying it, I knew it was truth. But even knowing that, I saw another truth. It wouldn't stop me from doing whatever I needed to.

    Meeting Chloe's eyes, I saw compassion there. And something else. Understanding maybe. But not the disdain I would have expected after admitting to such a weakness.

    I found myself caught in her gaze at the moment. Her eyes were deep green pools that reflected my own image back, but softer somehow. Trapped, I stared into her eyes for a long time. Too long.

    I think that was the first moment I saw the light in her. She had just used her powers against me, but the gray her her action was wiped away by the brightness of her.

    It gave me hope for a light in me too.

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

    Author's Plea: SecretChlex is on! You can see the posting with details here: http://forums.naughty-seduction.net/...ow-Jan-01-2015

  5. #15
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    I love this story. Please update soon.

  6. #16
    NS Full Member TrinityR's Avatar
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    You know, Lana actually did not stop taking self defense lessons. She just stopped taking them from Lex becuase as she said, he had a way of bringing out of her what was scary and unsettling.

  7. #17

    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    TrinityR - I don't remember seeing Lana taking any lessons beyond ones with Lex (until she does the training flashbacks in S8 Power), but you are more a Lana expert than I! I am willing to take your word for it. Though, in my story defense, Lex may not know either.

  8. #18
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    loved the chapter. the gas does effect lex.can't wait to see what happens next

  9. #19
    NS Full Member TrinityR's Avatar
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    Quote Originally Posted by phillydragonldy View Post
    TrinityR - I don't remember seeing Lana taking any lessons beyond ones with Lex (until she does the training flashbacks in S8 Power), but you are more a Lana expert than I! I am willing to take your word for it. Though, in my story defense, Lex may not know either.
    Well, I guess Lex might not know and yes, we didn't see Lana trainging with anyone else but Lex, but she did tell Clark that she signed up self-defence classes at the end of that episode, because Lex brought out a scary side of her. So she was still training

  10. #20
    NS Full Member TrinityR's Avatar
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    Re: The Villain in Me (PG-13) - Chapter 4 A Tale of Two Girls

    Quote Originally Posted by phillydragonldy View Post
    TrinityR - I don't remember seeing Lana taking any lessons beyond ones with Lex (until she does the training flashbacks in S8 Power), but you are more a Lana expert than I! I am willing to take your word for it. Though, in my story defense, Lex may not know either.
    Well, I guess Lex might not know and yes, we didn't see Lana trainging with anyone else but Lex, but she did tell Clark that she signed up self-defence classes at the end of that episode, because Lex brought out a scary side of her. So she was still training

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