Dis Pater Jupiter
10/14/05 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyGrrrr! I'm trying to unstall this story--I've got thousands of words written, but none of them please me overmuch. I hope that posting it will help unclog it. It's stuck in my brain and fighting with this new thing that wants out, but that's another story. Heh. Get it? Another....? Yaaah, fegedaboutit.
Enjoy! please please please!
Here’s part b to yesterday’s part a.
He stormed into the fortress. Lights immediately sprang up, and the temperature rose.
“Please instruct me as to how I may be of service to you, Kal-El.” the soothing voice came from every point of the structure and from no-where.
“Don’t start!” Clark snapped. “He’s unconscious, he’s drunk and stoned and the idiot tried to slit his wrists, god,” he growled and tightened his grip on the dead weight in his arms.
A long table rose from the floor, and he set Lex down on it and peeled the ruined bedspread away from him. He arranged his limbs on the table—he was so thin, so pale and it made him so angry. “I need something to cover him with, keep him warm.”
“Shortly.” Lara said. “I need to examine him thoroughly before we take any other steps. He has a large amount of narcotic in his system, alcohol as you said; the nanites I will inject into his blood stream will counteract that. He’s lost quite a bit of blood, but it is not life threatening. He has a concussion…a skull fracture that is healing. Ah.”
“What? What ‘ah’?” Clark stepped out of the way of the pale still form on the table, watching tubes and wires attach themselves to Lex, efficiently and quickly burrowing into his flesh. The sight made him wince—he’d never seen the AI at work on a human before.
“This is remarkable; Kal-El…his body heals very quickly. Not as quickly as yours, but faster by far than the average human. There are mutations—interesting. The nanites are experiencing some difficulty. His body is attempting to disable them.”
“Will that interfere with his healing process?”
Lex twitched and groaned and Lara made a small non-machine like sound. After a moment his face smoothed again, he was back under. “Adjustments have been made, he should be fine in a very short time.”
Clark leaned over him and stared hard. “He looks so innocent, doesn’t he…he must have been a very sweet looking kid.” he touched Lex’s cheek. “So smooth, his skin is so fine. Like velvet.” He snatched his hand away when he realized what he was doing, shook his head and stepped back.
Lara’s soft voice interrupted him. “Neither the alcohol and pills or his attempts to cut his wrists would have killed him.”
Clark crossed his arms over his chest and squeezed himself hard. He growled out between clenched teeth, “I should have known it was all a show, probably for that bastard--and I fell for it again!” He fixed Lex with a glare. “I rush off and bring him here all—stupid! I’m so damn stupid.”
Lara went on as if Clark hadn’t spoke, “Drowning would have killed him.” There was a faint but to Clark’s ears, distinctly sardonic tone to her voice. “He underestimated what it would take to terminate himself.”
“Oh!” Clark said. He looked down at the floor and in a small voice said, “I know you can fix him. Please.”
Lara was silent for a beat. “Of course, Kal-El. I can help to accelerate his healing.”
“And clean out that room. Destroy it and destroy that...that thing.” The Podium. He felt his face flame with heat and disgust at himself, his need to be punished seemed ridiculous and petty in the face of this pain. He hung his head. “Destroy all of it please,” he said, staring at Lex’s face. Even unconscious, worry lines radiated across his forehead, pulled down the corners of his mouth…he noticed that Lara gave no response to his last command. He sighed.
“You already did, didn’t you?”
Silence.
“You’re worse than Mom. When?”
“AI extrapolated events set into motion when you left Metropolis for Smallville would result in certain changes. Parts of the Fortress were reconfigured.” There was a slight hesitation and when she continued her voice was a little warmer. “I thought it best.”
Clark nodded. Of course. Why not? No one thought he had a mind of his own, that he was perfectly capable of thinking for himself, not Mom or Dad or Bruce—or Lex. Why should the AI? Or Lara, who was the AI and wasn’t and it just gave him a headache sometimes thinking about how she wasn’t… his shoulders slumped a little.
His only real friend was a paranoid vigilante, his birth mother was an artificial intelligence with a personality disorder, he was whatever the fuck he was, and it *so* wasn’t normal on a dozen different levels and.
He looked down at Lex’s pinched, gray face.
And who the hell was he to judge what was normal anymore? Normal was something he’d left behind a million years ago.
*****
Clark fidgeted over Lex and asked Lara again, “When is he going to wake up? He’s been out for hours.”
“Patience, Kal-El. Your parents have counseled you again and again to patience. You would do well to heed them, occasionally.”
“Oh, *shut* up,” Clark grumbled and then went stiff. Damn.
“You’re required elsewhere now, Kal-El. Lex will be perfectly safe here. You need not worry.”
Clark looked sour for moment, “I’m so sure.” In a blur, Clark was gone and Superman rose into the air. On the other side of the world, people were calling for him, people needed him and he couldn’t ignore their voices for the sake of one person.
Lara was quiet for a moment and then, “Alexander Luthor. I look forward to seeing what it is that makes you unique.”
******
Lex was sitting on a chair in a very white room. He was dressed all in white. It wasn’t a look he felt flattered him. He looked down at himself, the clothing looked like cheap pajamas, the kind they passed out to you on a mental ward. Though this certainly didn’t *look* like a mental ward. He sighed. At least not the one he’d experienced… The room was so quiet it went beyond silence and made a sort of…anti-noise. Was that his own heartbeat he was hearing? Lex frowned.
There was light, in fact, an annoying amount of it. The light came from all over; it was just on the edge of being too bright, and he couldn’t stop squinting. It looked to him like the set of some futuristic movie, a low-budget movie. If this room was meant to disorient him and keep him on edge, whoever held him here was wildly successful. A part of his mind he refused to listen to whispered, #maybe Lucas?#
Moments later he was startled by the appearance of a young woman also dressed in white pajamas. She came from…he had no idea where she came from. He missed how she entered the room. She sat next to him and he blinked. A moment ago he sat on the only chair in the room, the next moment, she was sitting on the only *other* chair in the room.
He looked at her, raised an eyebrow but she gave no response.
“Well. If you can make a chair appear out of thin air, I’m sure you can dial down that light a few notches. And I’d be extremely grateful for a cup of coffee.” He smiled. If he was going insane, he might as well amuse himself.
He fought to maintain a look of mild interest as the light became the strength of ordinary sunlight—and he held a heavy crockery cup of steaming coffee. He felt proud that he hadn’t spilled it. Prouder still that he hadn’t jumped up and screamed like a girl. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she responded.
“Oh, you can speak,” he said and took a sip of coffee. #and make a decent cup of coffee as well.#
“Thank you,” she said again. “Alexander. I’m curious. Do you plan to kill yourself another time?”
Lex nearly dropped the coffee. Damn it. Was this hell? Or…heaven? He shook his head. Had to be hell. He doubted he had options.
The woman laughed, and reminded him of someone. “No, no, this is not a place. It’s…” she waved her hand vaguely. “It’s within.”
“My mind? Is this a dream?” he asked, and drank the coffee, feeling it’s heat spread through his body, the wonderful scent fill his nose, cinnamon and sugar and cream on his tongue. “I don’t dream details,” he said. “I don’t taste or smell in my dreams, so what is this?”
“Excellent. You do not experience panic; you do not waste time disbelieving your senses. How is it that someone as resilient as you would wish to end their life?”
He gaped at the woman. And put the cup down—it disappeared. “I…did Clark bring me here? Where is he?”
“Yes, he did and he is…” She hesitated before smiling and continuing “—working.” and Lex laughed.
“I see. Is he going to come back?”
“Oh yes.”
“Does he still…hate me?”
Her calm demeanor ruffled slightly at that. “Kal-El… isn’t completely certain what he wants. He doesn’t want to hate you but he feels he should.”
"Kal-El? Clark… Superman.” He laughed sourly. “How the fuck does he keep track of them all?”
“Sometimes, not very well,” she responded, serious and calm and all Lex could say was, “Oh. Well, I won’t do that again.” #not unsuccessfully#
Lara smiled but said nothing.
Lex watched her; she was beautiful, dark hair, full lips, green eyes… “Who are you?” he whispered.
“A friend. It’s time to wake up now, Alexander.”
He started to nod, and then he was freezing, shivering, he could hear his teeth chattering, but his hands were strangely warm, and shaking. He opened his eyes and found himself staring up into green eyes, Clark was speaking his name and nudging at his hands, his eyebrows drawn together in concern—or annoyance, it was hard to tell. “Are you awake?”
Lex looked at Clark, looked at him hard. His eyes roamed over the man Clark had become. Without the ugly glasses and the horrible suits, even in the god-awful ridiculous uniform, he looked more like the Clark he’d known as a boy. He opened his mouth and Clark froze.
“Clark--” his throat felt rough and dry, his voice was a harsh whisper.
“Yes…”
“Get the fuck off of me.”
TBC!!
Enjoy! please please please!
Here’s part b to yesterday’s part a.
He stormed into the fortress. Lights immediately sprang up, and the temperature rose.
“Please instruct me as to how I may be of service to you, Kal-El.” the soothing voice came from every point of the structure and from no-where.
“Don’t start!” Clark snapped. “He’s unconscious, he’s drunk and stoned and the idiot tried to slit his wrists, god,” he growled and tightened his grip on the dead weight in his arms.
A long table rose from the floor, and he set Lex down on it and peeled the ruined bedspread away from him. He arranged his limbs on the table—he was so thin, so pale and it made him so angry. “I need something to cover him with, keep him warm.”
“Shortly.” Lara said. “I need to examine him thoroughly before we take any other steps. He has a large amount of narcotic in his system, alcohol as you said; the nanites I will inject into his blood stream will counteract that. He’s lost quite a bit of blood, but it is not life threatening. He has a concussion…a skull fracture that is healing. Ah.”
“What? What ‘ah’?” Clark stepped out of the way of the pale still form on the table, watching tubes and wires attach themselves to Lex, efficiently and quickly burrowing into his flesh. The sight made him wince—he’d never seen the AI at work on a human before.
“This is remarkable; Kal-El…his body heals very quickly. Not as quickly as yours, but faster by far than the average human. There are mutations—interesting. The nanites are experiencing some difficulty. His body is attempting to disable them.”
“Will that interfere with his healing process?”
Lex twitched and groaned and Lara made a small non-machine like sound. After a moment his face smoothed again, he was back under. “Adjustments have been made, he should be fine in a very short time.”
Clark leaned over him and stared hard. “He looks so innocent, doesn’t he…he must have been a very sweet looking kid.” he touched Lex’s cheek. “So smooth, his skin is so fine. Like velvet.” He snatched his hand away when he realized what he was doing, shook his head and stepped back.
Lara’s soft voice interrupted him. “Neither the alcohol and pills or his attempts to cut his wrists would have killed him.”
Clark crossed his arms over his chest and squeezed himself hard. He growled out between clenched teeth, “I should have known it was all a show, probably for that bastard--and I fell for it again!” He fixed Lex with a glare. “I rush off and bring him here all—stupid! I’m so damn stupid.”
Lara went on as if Clark hadn’t spoke, “Drowning would have killed him.” There was a faint but to Clark’s ears, distinctly sardonic tone to her voice. “He underestimated what it would take to terminate himself.”
“Oh!” Clark said. He looked down at the floor and in a small voice said, “I know you can fix him. Please.”
Lara was silent for a beat. “Of course, Kal-El. I can help to accelerate his healing.”
“And clean out that room. Destroy it and destroy that...that thing.” The Podium. He felt his face flame with heat and disgust at himself, his need to be punished seemed ridiculous and petty in the face of this pain. He hung his head. “Destroy all of it please,” he said, staring at Lex’s face. Even unconscious, worry lines radiated across his forehead, pulled down the corners of his mouth…he noticed that Lara gave no response to his last command. He sighed.
“You already did, didn’t you?”
Silence.
“You’re worse than Mom. When?”
“AI extrapolated events set into motion when you left Metropolis for Smallville would result in certain changes. Parts of the Fortress were reconfigured.” There was a slight hesitation and when she continued her voice was a little warmer. “I thought it best.”
Clark nodded. Of course. Why not? No one thought he had a mind of his own, that he was perfectly capable of thinking for himself, not Mom or Dad or Bruce—or Lex. Why should the AI? Or Lara, who was the AI and wasn’t and it just gave him a headache sometimes thinking about how she wasn’t… his shoulders slumped a little.
His only real friend was a paranoid vigilante, his birth mother was an artificial intelligence with a personality disorder, he was whatever the fuck he was, and it *so* wasn’t normal on a dozen different levels and.
He looked down at Lex’s pinched, gray face.
And who the hell was he to judge what was normal anymore? Normal was something he’d left behind a million years ago.
*****
Clark fidgeted over Lex and asked Lara again, “When is he going to wake up? He’s been out for hours.”
“Patience, Kal-El. Your parents have counseled you again and again to patience. You would do well to heed them, occasionally.”
“Oh, *shut* up,” Clark grumbled and then went stiff. Damn.
“You’re required elsewhere now, Kal-El. Lex will be perfectly safe here. You need not worry.”
Clark looked sour for moment, “I’m so sure.” In a blur, Clark was gone and Superman rose into the air. On the other side of the world, people were calling for him, people needed him and he couldn’t ignore their voices for the sake of one person.
Lara was quiet for a moment and then, “Alexander Luthor. I look forward to seeing what it is that makes you unique.”
******
Lex was sitting on a chair in a very white room. He was dressed all in white. It wasn’t a look he felt flattered him. He looked down at himself, the clothing looked like cheap pajamas, the kind they passed out to you on a mental ward. Though this certainly didn’t *look* like a mental ward. He sighed. At least not the one he’d experienced… The room was so quiet it went beyond silence and made a sort of…anti-noise. Was that his own heartbeat he was hearing? Lex frowned.
There was light, in fact, an annoying amount of it. The light came from all over; it was just on the edge of being too bright, and he couldn’t stop squinting. It looked to him like the set of some futuristic movie, a low-budget movie. If this room was meant to disorient him and keep him on edge, whoever held him here was wildly successful. A part of his mind he refused to listen to whispered, #maybe Lucas?#
Moments later he was startled by the appearance of a young woman also dressed in white pajamas. She came from…he had no idea where she came from. He missed how she entered the room. She sat next to him and he blinked. A moment ago he sat on the only chair in the room, the next moment, she was sitting on the only *other* chair in the room.
He looked at her, raised an eyebrow but she gave no response.
“Well. If you can make a chair appear out of thin air, I’m sure you can dial down that light a few notches. And I’d be extremely grateful for a cup of coffee.” He smiled. If he was going insane, he might as well amuse himself.
He fought to maintain a look of mild interest as the light became the strength of ordinary sunlight—and he held a heavy crockery cup of steaming coffee. He felt proud that he hadn’t spilled it. Prouder still that he hadn’t jumped up and screamed like a girl. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she responded.
“Oh, you can speak,” he said and took a sip of coffee. #and make a decent cup of coffee as well.#
“Thank you,” she said again. “Alexander. I’m curious. Do you plan to kill yourself another time?”
Lex nearly dropped the coffee. Damn it. Was this hell? Or…heaven? He shook his head. Had to be hell. He doubted he had options.
The woman laughed, and reminded him of someone. “No, no, this is not a place. It’s…” she waved her hand vaguely. “It’s within.”
“My mind? Is this a dream?” he asked, and drank the coffee, feeling it’s heat spread through his body, the wonderful scent fill his nose, cinnamon and sugar and cream on his tongue. “I don’t dream details,” he said. “I don’t taste or smell in my dreams, so what is this?”
“Excellent. You do not experience panic; you do not waste time disbelieving your senses. How is it that someone as resilient as you would wish to end their life?”
He gaped at the woman. And put the cup down—it disappeared. “I…did Clark bring me here? Where is he?”
“Yes, he did and he is…” She hesitated before smiling and continuing “—working.” and Lex laughed.
“I see. Is he going to come back?”
“Oh yes.”
“Does he still…hate me?”
Her calm demeanor ruffled slightly at that. “Kal-El… isn’t completely certain what he wants. He doesn’t want to hate you but he feels he should.”
"Kal-El? Clark… Superman.” He laughed sourly. “How the fuck does he keep track of them all?”
“Sometimes, not very well,” she responded, serious and calm and all Lex could say was, “Oh. Well, I won’t do that again.” #not unsuccessfully#
Lara smiled but said nothing.
Lex watched her; she was beautiful, dark hair, full lips, green eyes… “Who are you?” he whispered.
“A friend. It’s time to wake up now, Alexander.”
He started to nod, and then he was freezing, shivering, he could hear his teeth chattering, but his hands were strangely warm, and shaking. He opened his eyes and found himself staring up into green eyes, Clark was speaking his name and nudging at his hands, his eyebrows drawn together in concern—or annoyance, it was hard to tell. “Are you awake?”
Lex looked at Clark, looked at him hard. His eyes roamed over the man Clark had become. Without the ugly glasses and the horrible suits, even in the god-awful ridiculous uniform, he looked more like the Clark he’d known as a boy. He opened his mouth and Clark froze.
“Clark--” his throat felt rough and dry, his voice was a harsh whisper.
“Yes…”
“Get the fuck off of me.”
TBC!!
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
10/15/05 05:02 am (UTC)Evil.
Eeeeeeeviiiiiiil.
Who knows what
evil(no subject)
10/16/05 04:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 05:31 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/16/05 04:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 05:31 am (UTC)I like him being so concerned about Lex that he forgets to be careful, forgets to pretend to hate him.
Lex cradled against his chest like a baby.
Because he's precious.
This is a great part, thanks Roxy!
*smooches*
(no subject)
10/16/05 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/16/05 04:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 08:25 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/16/05 04:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 12:18 pm (UTC)I am shaking here, you vivid descriptions , you made me (for the first time in this sequel, I think) totally forget lucas....*breathing is difficult, I am sooooooo ded*
ded as ded woobie!lex......*pondering* maybe the clex should be given a chance ???
but ........ cannot think clearly, staring on screen and hope that magically the next part will appear...
(no subject)
10/16/05 04:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 01:16 pm (UTC)Poor Lex. Poor boy.
(no subject)
10/16/05 04:10 am (UTC)(no subject)
10/15/05 02:39 pm (UTC)Yay!
*bounce*
*smooches you*
(no subject)
10/16/05 04:10 am (UTC)*beams*
(no subject)
10/15/05 06:07 pm (UTC)Cuddles in the next part, right? 'Cause cuddles are good. And Lex so obviously needs them. *Bribes you with some more chocolate* *g*
(no subject)
10/16/05 04:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
7/19/06 04:29 am (UTC)Thoughts: Lara is lovely. I mean, I am so glad she's so much more aware of things than Clark, particularly with Lex. Because he needs someone til Clark wakes up.
Oh, perfect, perfect: Lara went on as if Clark hadn’t spoke, “Drowning would have killed him.” There was a faint but to Clark’s ears, distinctly sardonic tone to her voice. “He underestimated what it would take to terminate himself.”
And so glad that Clark wants him to be fixed. And he should be ashamed, too, for jumping to conclusions, before all the facts are in.
Oh, squee. Clark touched him. Yay. ;)
"And who the hell was he to judge what was normal anymore? Normal was something he’d left behind a million years ago."
Truth.
oh, nice dream? sequence. And yes! for Lara being a friend.
Oh the bitterness of Lex vowing not to be unsuccessful in suicide. Owie.
But the end -- bwahahaha. Clark is ON Lex? And just his .hands. are warm? How on earth is he... I guess I'll just have to read the next bit. ;)
(no subject)
4/4/07 08:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
4/4/07 11:10 pm (UTC)Moms love Lex. I'm one and I do. Though--*koff* not in quite the same way Martha and Lara do....
(no subject)
4/4/07 11:41 pm (UTC)