Dis Pater Jupiter
12/1/05 09:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyThe Previous Parts are here, l making out a X-mas list that will make Santa beg his elves to spork his eyes out
I love you, my people, I do. I hope you like this bit. Ignore the red stains, it’s only my hearts blood. Tchah-kidding…more or less
“I want to go home—or some place. I can’t be here anymore. It’s too…too close.”
Clark was confused. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I mean…I’m just feeling—I have to go. It’s too quiet.”
Lara interrupted. “Of course Lex, you must go.”
Clark was immediately angry. “But he’s safest here! No one can hurt him here.”
“Lucas thought no one could hurt me in the penthouse, he thought no one would hurt me in Smallville.” Lex smiled sadly.
“Look, you—you’ll—Lex, that’s not going to happen again, okay?” Clark tried to respond calmly and evenly but he felt like grabbing Lex and shaking him hard.
“No, of course not, I’m saying that I can’t live my life locked up in a tower like, like--Snow White or Rapunzel—fuck--” He snapped at Clark. “--You know what I mean!”
Clark’s mouth was pressed into a tight line, and his eyebrows rose. Finally he managed to say, nearly without a smile, “You’re a fairy princess?”
“Fuck you Clark!” Lex burst into startled laughter and Clark beamed, thrilled to have made Lex laugh.
“You do understand though, don’t you?” Lex asked when he’d calmed down again.
Clark nodded slowly, sadly. “All right. There are three places you’d be the safest, and one of them is definitely out for the question for now.”
Lex smiled bitterly. “Gotham.”
Clark went on. “Which leaves my apartment in the city…or Mom and Dad.”
Lex shook his head. “No. I’m not putting your family in danger. I refuse to even consider that as an option.”
Clark sighed. “Lex, the farm is under surveillance all the time, has been since I was a kid and Bruce…Bruce found out about me.”
Lex ‘s eyes widened. “He’s known that long…since when? Since he came with me to Smallville…of course.”
“He’s helped us since that time. I’ve doubled security since I took you. No one gets anywhere near the farm without us knowing. It might look unprotected but the place is a fortress practically.”
Lex nodded, hearing since I took youechoing in his head. “If Bruce designed the defenses, I’m sure they’re thorough, not to mention interesting,” he grinned. “Bruce loves to play with his toys.”
Clark coughed quietly. “Maybe he did...He’s a little less playful now. I’m afraid, as much as he used to warn me about letting the job wear you down, he hasn’t heeded his own advice very well. What we do, it’s the kind of thing that chips away at you…” He sighed. “Maybe we did help each other. I hope so.”
Lex raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. He wasn’t so sure he did want to know exactly what Clark meant. Clark shrugged. “I’ll take him to the farm,” he spoke to the air. Lex was used to it by now and didn’t react and Lara answered. ‘Yes. That seems a good choice.”
Clark frowned, obviously not happy to take Lex out of what was certainly perfect safety but Lex needed to see sky again, breathe unfiltered, un-recycled air, feel wind on his face. He loved being with Clark, but it was like being in the apartment in Metropolis, day in and day out not moving from one spot only without the amusing drug and alcohol haze…he just wanted to start living again. Feel what it was like again, to be his own man. He gnawed at his lip, and wondered how he could manage that—tried to think of some scenario in which it didn’t all end up in death.
*****
Lucas was busy. He watched Smallville, he watched Metropolis, he watched the Kents and he watched the other hicks in the town. No sign of Lex anywhere, nothing, not a breath--wherever Lex was it really wasn’t Smallville.
That didn’t mean that Kent or his parents didn’t know where he might be, or where The Freak had him hidden, he’d need to have a talk with them. Maybe go down to that fucking ugly coffee shop Martha ran, or out to the farm and have a little chat with Jonathan.
At the plant, he was busy, checking on the progress of the various projects that were completely legal and extremely profitable and going to make the government and LuthorCorp very happy, on a business level and a personal level.
He was enthusiastic about development of all the projects—but especially that of his private project. His special project, hidden in the funding for the official ones, bit by bit, quietly and secretly constructed and tested…it was beautiful. His alone. He let himself into a level that didn’t exist any longer, that had been dismantled and sealed off under the watchful eyes of the state years ago, the place where his beautiful project was born.
He walked into the office area, and enjoyed the little wave of panic that swept the room. Everyone came to alert, hyper aware that the boss was on board. Except of course for Darrell, the head of this particular project, whose only concession was to sit upright. He dropped his feet to the floor and folded his hands on his desk. “Mr. Luthor,” he sneered.
“Darrell,” Lucas sneered back. “Oh. Pardon me, *Dr.* Haine.”
“Whatever,” Darrell grinned and jammed a cigarette into the corner of his mouth.
Lucas frowned. “You can’t smoke that here.”
“Of course I can, that what the air scrubbers are for.”
“They’re not for cleaning the shit you’re spewing out.”
“Oh for fucks sake, stop whining like a bitch. Come on, I’ve got something to show you that’s going to make you very happy.”
They were walking down a featureless hall, Darrell describing the progress on his baby, and then they were in front of it, looking through the glass into the dimly lit room that housed it. It gleamed in the light and even now it looked beautiful and deadly. He turned to Darrell and grinned. “The first day I met you, I knew you were going to be good luck for me. What you’ve done—it’s fucking amazing.”
“Yeah, it is,” Darrell said, grinning. He grabbed Lucas’ tie in his fist and pulled him close. “You said I’d be filthy rich and you didn’t lie.” He stared into Lucas’ eyes and his grin turned nasty. “Wanna go up to the office and get a drink—celebrate that you’re almost there?”
Lucas had been hard since he looked at his pet project. “Yeah,” he breathed out, his breath fogging the glass. “Let’s get a drink, Darrell.”
******
After, pleasantly sore, exhausted and sweat dripping on the couch in Darrell’s office, he questioned Darrell on the progress, how much longer it would take.
“There’s some work needed on the interface. You need to be hooked up to it---and it’s painful. We’re trying to figure out how to make it less painful.”
Lucas nodded. “Okay, so what’s in the works?"
“A few of the mutants might be helpful.” Darrell sat up right and fished his glasses and cigarettes out of the pile of clothing on the floor, lit up. “See, your mutation is causing problems. You heal too fast and we don’t want that. We want to slow down the healing factor without destroying it. We’re looking for that in some of the residents here…” He got up and walked over to his desk, adjusting his glasses as he shuffled through the folders on his desk. He made a little noise of satisfaction, grabbed a folder and handed it to Lucas. “There are some of the results we’ve gotten.” He picked up his clothes and began dressing while Lucas looked over the papers.
“But this means it’ll be months, or longer before we’re ready. I can’t wait that long. Won’t the interface disengage--”
The ports would be left in your skin—we don’t want them to heal over, we don’t want the device to become a permanent part of you.
“Why? Would it be dangerous?”
“Well no—we don’t think so but it would become part of you, you’d never be rid of it. And honestly I don’t know what that would do to you. In our test subjects, we’ve been able to remove it because it doesn’t become part of the subjects but with you. Well. It’s all different, isn’t it?”
Lucas thought about what Darrell was telling him, that without an agent to slow his healing power, he would become even more changed then he was now, something that he was able to avoid thinking of, normally. Lex’s and his abilities never came to mind unless something called his attention to it, like Lex’s surviving what would be a killing overdose in anyone else, or broken bones healing in days, cuts and abrasions disappearing, sometimes in a matter of hours, without a trace. Something he thought—knew-- was a sign of superiority, and now, might slow down his recovery of Lex. No. One way or another, he was going to be ready soon.
He dressed, mulled over what Darrell said and a thought bloomed---“Darrell, what about the meteors?”
Darrell was already at his desk, at work. Hmm, he said, distracted. He looked at Lucas over the screen. “What—the meteorites? We used them in the construction of the thing. It’ mixed into the metal—it’s not something to play with, you know that. We’ve provided as much shielding as we can without making it too heavy to move.”
“I’m talking about using it to slow down the healing--"
“Are you nuts? Besides being carcinogenic, and a mutagen, there’s the enormous probability of it killing you straight out.”
“No it won’t. It hasn’t killed anyone yet. Hell, people have liquefied and ingested it.”
“But not full strength. And you know that people have been altered from simple exposure to it. You know some of the residents are former employees, and we do our utmost to make sure that exposure is minimal.”
“Look, I’m positive that it won’t kill me, I only intend to use enough to slow down the healing, that’s all.”
“We’d be on surer ground if we had someone with the same abilities as a test subject. Your brother would be perfect.”
Lucas smiled and revealed none of the rage that roared through him. He kept on smiling and decided that he was definitely trying his baby out on Darrell first. He’d make an excellent test subject. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”
“Oh. Well, too bad,” Darrell said, blissfully unaware that the project was the best and the last work he’d do. We’ll make do. “You coming again tomorrow?”
Lucas dressed and put his coat back on. “That depends on you, doesn’t it?”
******
TBC as bob is my witless….
eta:sorry, am a boob!
I love you, my people, I do. I hope you like this bit. Ignore the red stains, it’s only my hearts blood. Tchah-kidding…more or less
“I want to go home—or some place. I can’t be here anymore. It’s too…too close.”
Clark was confused. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I mean…I’m just feeling—I have to go. It’s too quiet.”
Lara interrupted. “Of course Lex, you must go.”
Clark was immediately angry. “But he’s safest here! No one can hurt him here.”
“Lucas thought no one could hurt me in the penthouse, he thought no one would hurt me in Smallville.” Lex smiled sadly.
“Look, you—you’ll—Lex, that’s not going to happen again, okay?” Clark tried to respond calmly and evenly but he felt like grabbing Lex and shaking him hard.
“No, of course not, I’m saying that I can’t live my life locked up in a tower like, like--Snow White or Rapunzel—fuck--” He snapped at Clark. “--You know what I mean!”
Clark’s mouth was pressed into a tight line, and his eyebrows rose. Finally he managed to say, nearly without a smile, “You’re a fairy princess?”
“Fuck you Clark!” Lex burst into startled laughter and Clark beamed, thrilled to have made Lex laugh.
“You do understand though, don’t you?” Lex asked when he’d calmed down again.
Clark nodded slowly, sadly. “All right. There are three places you’d be the safest, and one of them is definitely out for the question for now.”
Lex smiled bitterly. “Gotham.”
Clark went on. “Which leaves my apartment in the city…or Mom and Dad.”
Lex shook his head. “No. I’m not putting your family in danger. I refuse to even consider that as an option.”
Clark sighed. “Lex, the farm is under surveillance all the time, has been since I was a kid and Bruce…Bruce found out about me.”
Lex ‘s eyes widened. “He’s known that long…since when? Since he came with me to Smallville…of course.”
“He’s helped us since that time. I’ve doubled security since I took you. No one gets anywhere near the farm without us knowing. It might look unprotected but the place is a fortress practically.”
Lex nodded, hearing since I took youechoing in his head. “If Bruce designed the defenses, I’m sure they’re thorough, not to mention interesting,” he grinned. “Bruce loves to play with his toys.”
Clark coughed quietly. “Maybe he did...He’s a little less playful now. I’m afraid, as much as he used to warn me about letting the job wear you down, he hasn’t heeded his own advice very well. What we do, it’s the kind of thing that chips away at you…” He sighed. “Maybe we did help each other. I hope so.”
Lex raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak. He wasn’t so sure he did want to know exactly what Clark meant. Clark shrugged. “I’ll take him to the farm,” he spoke to the air. Lex was used to it by now and didn’t react and Lara answered. ‘Yes. That seems a good choice.”
Clark frowned, obviously not happy to take Lex out of what was certainly perfect safety but Lex needed to see sky again, breathe unfiltered, un-recycled air, feel wind on his face. He loved being with Clark, but it was like being in the apartment in Metropolis, day in and day out not moving from one spot only without the amusing drug and alcohol haze…he just wanted to start living again. Feel what it was like again, to be his own man. He gnawed at his lip, and wondered how he could manage that—tried to think of some scenario in which it didn’t all end up in death.
*****
Lucas was busy. He watched Smallville, he watched Metropolis, he watched the Kents and he watched the other hicks in the town. No sign of Lex anywhere, nothing, not a breath--wherever Lex was it really wasn’t Smallville.
That didn’t mean that Kent or his parents didn’t know where he might be, or where The Freak had him hidden, he’d need to have a talk with them. Maybe go down to that fucking ugly coffee shop Martha ran, or out to the farm and have a little chat with Jonathan.
At the plant, he was busy, checking on the progress of the various projects that were completely legal and extremely profitable and going to make the government and LuthorCorp very happy, on a business level and a personal level.
He was enthusiastic about development of all the projects—but especially that of his private project. His special project, hidden in the funding for the official ones, bit by bit, quietly and secretly constructed and tested…it was beautiful. His alone. He let himself into a level that didn’t exist any longer, that had been dismantled and sealed off under the watchful eyes of the state years ago, the place where his beautiful project was born.
He walked into the office area, and enjoyed the little wave of panic that swept the room. Everyone came to alert, hyper aware that the boss was on board. Except of course for Darrell, the head of this particular project, whose only concession was to sit upright. He dropped his feet to the floor and folded his hands on his desk. “Mr. Luthor,” he sneered.
“Darrell,” Lucas sneered back. “Oh. Pardon me, *Dr.* Haine.”
“Whatever,” Darrell grinned and jammed a cigarette into the corner of his mouth.
Lucas frowned. “You can’t smoke that here.”
“Of course I can, that what the air scrubbers are for.”
“They’re not for cleaning the shit you’re spewing out.”
“Oh for fucks sake, stop whining like a bitch. Come on, I’ve got something to show you that’s going to make you very happy.”
They were walking down a featureless hall, Darrell describing the progress on his baby, and then they were in front of it, looking through the glass into the dimly lit room that housed it. It gleamed in the light and even now it looked beautiful and deadly. He turned to Darrell and grinned. “The first day I met you, I knew you were going to be good luck for me. What you’ve done—it’s fucking amazing.”
“Yeah, it is,” Darrell said, grinning. He grabbed Lucas’ tie in his fist and pulled him close. “You said I’d be filthy rich and you didn’t lie.” He stared into Lucas’ eyes and his grin turned nasty. “Wanna go up to the office and get a drink—celebrate that you’re almost there?”
Lucas had been hard since he looked at his pet project. “Yeah,” he breathed out, his breath fogging the glass. “Let’s get a drink, Darrell.”
******
After, pleasantly sore, exhausted and sweat dripping on the couch in Darrell’s office, he questioned Darrell on the progress, how much longer it would take.
“There’s some work needed on the interface. You need to be hooked up to it---and it’s painful. We’re trying to figure out how to make it less painful.”
Lucas nodded. “Okay, so what’s in the works?"
“A few of the mutants might be helpful.” Darrell sat up right and fished his glasses and cigarettes out of the pile of clothing on the floor, lit up. “See, your mutation is causing problems. You heal too fast and we don’t want that. We want to slow down the healing factor without destroying it. We’re looking for that in some of the residents here…” He got up and walked over to his desk, adjusting his glasses as he shuffled through the folders on his desk. He made a little noise of satisfaction, grabbed a folder and handed it to Lucas. “There are some of the results we’ve gotten.” He picked up his clothes and began dressing while Lucas looked over the papers.
“But this means it’ll be months, or longer before we’re ready. I can’t wait that long. Won’t the interface disengage--”
The ports would be left in your skin—we don’t want them to heal over, we don’t want the device to become a permanent part of you.
“Why? Would it be dangerous?”
“Well no—we don’t think so but it would become part of you, you’d never be rid of it. And honestly I don’t know what that would do to you. In our test subjects, we’ve been able to remove it because it doesn’t become part of the subjects but with you. Well. It’s all different, isn’t it?”
Lucas thought about what Darrell was telling him, that without an agent to slow his healing power, he would become even more changed then he was now, something that he was able to avoid thinking of, normally. Lex’s and his abilities never came to mind unless something called his attention to it, like Lex’s surviving what would be a killing overdose in anyone else, or broken bones healing in days, cuts and abrasions disappearing, sometimes in a matter of hours, without a trace. Something he thought—knew-- was a sign of superiority, and now, might slow down his recovery of Lex. No. One way or another, he was going to be ready soon.
He dressed, mulled over what Darrell said and a thought bloomed---“Darrell, what about the meteors?”
Darrell was already at his desk, at work. Hmm, he said, distracted. He looked at Lucas over the screen. “What—the meteorites? We used them in the construction of the thing. It’ mixed into the metal—it’s not something to play with, you know that. We’ve provided as much shielding as we can without making it too heavy to move.”
“I’m talking about using it to slow down the healing--"
“Are you nuts? Besides being carcinogenic, and a mutagen, there’s the enormous probability of it killing you straight out.”
“No it won’t. It hasn’t killed anyone yet. Hell, people have liquefied and ingested it.”
“But not full strength. And you know that people have been altered from simple exposure to it. You know some of the residents are former employees, and we do our utmost to make sure that exposure is minimal.”
“Look, I’m positive that it won’t kill me, I only intend to use enough to slow down the healing, that’s all.”
“We’d be on surer ground if we had someone with the same abilities as a test subject. Your brother would be perfect.”
Lucas smiled and revealed none of the rage that roared through him. He kept on smiling and decided that he was definitely trying his baby out on Darrell first. He’d make an excellent test subject. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question.”
“Oh. Well, too bad,” Darrell said, blissfully unaware that the project was the best and the last work he’d do. We’ll make do. “You coming again tomorrow?”
Lucas dressed and put his coat back on. “That depends on you, doesn’t it?”
******
TBC as bob is my witless….
eta:sorry, am a boob!
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