DPJupiter part 25....
12/5/05 12:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roxyThe Previous Parts are here, stalking Anderson Cooper, of their own free will and not by my order, gosh no....
Three days in Smallville and Lex still felt cut off from everyone. Martha was doing her best and Jonathan tried to draw him out, but he felt unreal, like he was made of plastic and the world was playing out on a screen. Clark was busy, catching up on work that had piled up while he was gone, and though Lex tried to lose himself in work around the farm, there wasn’t much that he could do. Jonathan had hired help when Clark moved to Metropolis and Martha politely bristled when he offered to help around the house. He spent a lot of time walking and thinking and worrying. He spent too much time thinking about his brother.
******
“Martha, I need to go into town, just for a little bit. Do you think that’s possible?”
The look she gave him was distinctly unhappy. “Well, I don’t know…Clark wouldn’t be very comfortable to have you away from the security of the farm…”
“Clark’s not here, and I really didn’t want to trade one gilded cage for another.”
Martha winced, she understood how Lex must feel. “Maybe…maybe we can take a quick run into town.”
Lex smiled, “I can wear a disguise if you like.”.
She laughed. “You think you’re joking, mister. You are definitely going to wear a disguise.”
“What? A wig and rubber nose?” He looked at her incredulously. “You’re kidding! And you’re getting way too much enjoyment from the idea to be kidding.” He shook his head. “You Kents—you enjoy making my life difficult.”
Martha shook her head, giggling. “No, no, I’m not trying to be difficult, really not—I don’t think we need a rubber nose, at least.” She gestured for him to follow her.
“I swear, I’m not wearing a wig.” He followed her up to Clark’s bedroom and watched as she went through his closet, choosing clothing.
“Here. All you need is a belt and a pair of sunglasses and I think we’ll be fine.”
Lex looked at the jeans, tee-shirt, and Crows sweatshirt laid out on the bed. The sweatshirt was the hooded kind, and the jeans looked too big, worn at the knees, and he noticed, other places….
She smiled. “The jeans will be a little baggy but not too much. Clark’s shoes will never fit you but a pair of Jonathan’s work boots should fit you just fine,” she said, giving his feet a critical eye.
He picked up the sweat shirt and wrinkled his nose slightly. He held the sweatshirt a little closer to his face and tried to sniff without being obvious. “Great,” Lex said. “I’ll look like some rapper wanna-be.”
Martha smothered a laugh behind her hand. “I’m pretty sure you won’t Lex, but what you also won’t look like is the fabulously wealthy Lex Luthor. Keep the hood up and the glasses on, and you’ll do fine.” She tossed a ball cap at him. “Wear this under the hood.”
He gaped at her. “You’re kidding! You’re not kidding….”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not. It’s either the cap, or a wig, and I just happen to have a blonde one—don’t ask,” she said at Lex’s lifted eyebrow. “Now. Cap.”
Lex didn’t know why he worried about Lucas. He could probably send Martha after him and scare him to death.
******
Amanda was working behind the counter when she heard the door bell ring. She glanced up and saw that Ryan was already greeting the customer—it was Jonathan Kent, with a teenager in tow—a typical kid, sagging jeans and hoody, shades, trying to look hard. She smiled to herself and mentally dismissed him, greeted Jonathan warmly. Martha ordered books from her frequently--she’d been careful to cultivate a friendship.
She found the Kents were oddly reserved for small town residents, particularly living on the outskirts as they did—people who were out-of-the-way tended to want to make connections, unlike the Kents. They seemed to have no close fiends in town or amongst their neighbors. She found their behavior interesting but the Boss didn’t seem to care, beyond their connection to his brother he couldn’t care less about them.
Kent said something to the kid, hesitating for a moment before he spoke. The kid was slow in responding, but quickly nodded as if he hadn’t heard him. He walked towards the history section, and she noticed the way he moved didn’t seem to match his look. She waited. It could be that Kent had hired a new farmhand—though the likelihood that he’d be shopping with a new hand was improbable.
They came to the register and the kid started to put his choice on the counter, Kent took the book from his hand and paid, giving him a hard look when the kid reached toward his pocket. Amanda took the opportunity to look closely at him.
She looked him over sharply. Not a kid after all--under the ill-fitting clothing was a grown man. She studied him carefully as she rang up the books.
“Tell Martha I might have the books she wanted soon, Jonathan.”
“Oh, thanks, she’ll be happy to hear that.” He smiled but made no move to introduce the young man.
There was a faint scar on the man’s upper lip. She smiled. “See you soon.”
Kent waved goodbye as the two walked out the door.
She called Lucas a few minutes later, and then told Ryan that she might have to leave town for a few days—family obligations. It was up to Lucas whether she’d be back or not.
She gave Ryan the rest of the day off, and went into the storeroom, humming quietly. She was certain that the farm’s security shouldn’t be a problem, the most that these places usually had in the way of security were motion sensors, window and door contacts. They might have a system that alerted the cops, more than likely not.
She considered taking a gun, decided against it. A knife would probably be better. She looked over the case she’d opened, and after some thought, chose the plastic knives. She didn’t anticipate any trouble; they were excellent for close work and easy to dispose of. She tucked a length of fishing line in with the knife she chose. Jonathan was healthy and in good shape, she’d make sure to take him from behind.
She tucked the case away, prepared a syringe. There was no way she was going to be responsible for any damage to the Boss’ brother. He was known to be totally unreasonable where he was concerned.
******
Lucas sat back and stared at the ceiling. So Lex was back in Smallville and living with the Kents. That was nice--how cozy and sweet was that? He hoped they were taking good care of him. He growled, his hands shook as he traced a line across the dark surface of the desk. After a moment, he jumped to his feet and raced down to the pool. He ripped his clothes off as he ran, hopping as he tore off boxers and pants and kicked off his moccasins. He leaped into the water at a furious run—hit the water like a knife, stroked hard and fast from one end of the pool to the other, over and over until his lungs burned and his heart pounded hard.
He hung from the edge of the pool, panting in equal parts from exertion and anger. His teeth bared in a smile. In a very short while, Lex was going to be sitting in that crap house by himself---more or less.
He should have told Smith to blow the fucker up—like he ordered for Kent’s place…. he bit at his thumbnail and kicked his feet in the water. Maybe that had been a mistake…shit. Oh well, it was out of his hands now, and even if Kent suspected, there was no way he could connect it to him.
He was up stairs again, towel wrapped around his waist and toweling his hair, at first the sound of the TV in the entertainment room was muffled, he settled the damp towel around his shoulders and realized it was blaring the news that an apartment building in Metropolis had been leveled, several of the residents were missing and presumed to have died in the blast. Nearly an entire block was in flames.
Lucas slammed his fist into the desktop. “Son-of-a bitch! I told that asshole to take the apartment out—not the mother fucking block. Idiot.” He was furious. It was like using a hand grenade to kill fleas on a dog, fucking idiot. He was angry enough to have the fuck-up terminated, but it was his won fault for being too impatient. He should have waited for Amanda to finish the clean-up in Smallville and let her handle this. She was very precise, like a surgeon. He liked that. It reminded him of Lex, somehow.
With a bone deep sigh, he picked up his phone, dialed the LuthorCorp office. “Security,” he barked into the phone and without pause he was connected to his security head.
“Yes sir?” The man didn’t waste his time with small talk, he liked that. “Send Harris out here, I think I need to double my security.”
“Yes sir, would you like me to send Anderson and Wright also?”
“No—Harris will do.” There was a moment of silence and even though the man might not voice a question it was evident in his tone. “Yes sir. By car or helicopter?”
“Helicopter. I’ll be waiting.”
“Okay, he’s on his way.”
Lucas sat back again and smiled. Harris might stop Kent…. he frowned, but not the Flying Freak. He thought about the disastrous turn the Metropolis thing took—was he making the same mistake here…no, he really wanted those hicks dead. They were helping to keep Lex from him. He was frustrated and angry and unsure and it was driving him nuts and he couldn’t remember ever feeling this unsure. What the hell was wrong with him?
what’s wrong with you? You’re suffering paranoid delusions, hearing….
“Oh for god’s sake shut the fuck up. Can’t you bother someone else for once?” Lucas tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
sorry…but you do realize you are compounding your mistake…
Lucas dug his fingers into his scalp, yanked hard at his hair. “I know it, I know it, damn it.”
******
Amanda was nearly in sight of the Kent farmhouse, she had a few books and a bag of chocolate chip cookies on sitting on the seat next to her. The truck bumped over the potholes in the road, and swerved a bit. She cursed as she straightened it on the road. She was oddly on edge, adrenaline making her jumpy instead of alert. Something didn’t feel right. She briefly considered calling Luthor and telling him it was off for today---he never questioned her decisions when it came to her business…she shook her head. Retirement was beginning to look like an attractive option, she was feeling needlessly nervous, after all, they were just a pair of farmers. She could see the farmhouse ahead, and she plastered a smile on her face, ready….
Jonathan was getting mail from the postbox at the end of the drive. She cursed quietly to herself. Damn it, he was supposed to be in the field, away from the house. She’d planned to use the cookies and books to distract Martha while she took care of the brother, take Martha out first, a snap to get rid of her and then on to Jonathan. With what she’d chosen, she’d never get them both unless she could separate them. The cell phone in her pocket vibrated against her breast, and she slowed to a crawl to answer.
“Not today,” The Boss. She felt a degree of relief out of proportion to what was happening.
“Agreed,” she replied and broke the connection. If there were anything else, he’d contact her this evening. She drove past Jonathan, who waved and smiled, she smiled and waved back and kept driving.
She looked at the bag on the seat and took a cookie out---no sense in letting perfectly good chocolate chip cookies go to waste.
******
tbc!
eta: oops-looks like I picked a bad week to stop drinking....
Three days in Smallville and Lex still felt cut off from everyone. Martha was doing her best and Jonathan tried to draw him out, but he felt unreal, like he was made of plastic and the world was playing out on a screen. Clark was busy, catching up on work that had piled up while he was gone, and though Lex tried to lose himself in work around the farm, there wasn’t much that he could do. Jonathan had hired help when Clark moved to Metropolis and Martha politely bristled when he offered to help around the house. He spent a lot of time walking and thinking and worrying. He spent too much time thinking about his brother.
******
“Martha, I need to go into town, just for a little bit. Do you think that’s possible?”
The look she gave him was distinctly unhappy. “Well, I don’t know…Clark wouldn’t be very comfortable to have you away from the security of the farm…”
“Clark’s not here, and I really didn’t want to trade one gilded cage for another.”
Martha winced, she understood how Lex must feel. “Maybe…maybe we can take a quick run into town.”
Lex smiled, “I can wear a disguise if you like.”.
She laughed. “You think you’re joking, mister. You are definitely going to wear a disguise.”
“What? A wig and rubber nose?” He looked at her incredulously. “You’re kidding! And you’re getting way too much enjoyment from the idea to be kidding.” He shook his head. “You Kents—you enjoy making my life difficult.”
Martha shook her head, giggling. “No, no, I’m not trying to be difficult, really not—I don’t think we need a rubber nose, at least.” She gestured for him to follow her.
“I swear, I’m not wearing a wig.” He followed her up to Clark’s bedroom and watched as she went through his closet, choosing clothing.
“Here. All you need is a belt and a pair of sunglasses and I think we’ll be fine.”
Lex looked at the jeans, tee-shirt, and Crows sweatshirt laid out on the bed. The sweatshirt was the hooded kind, and the jeans looked too big, worn at the knees, and he noticed, other places….
She smiled. “The jeans will be a little baggy but not too much. Clark’s shoes will never fit you but a pair of Jonathan’s work boots should fit you just fine,” she said, giving his feet a critical eye.
He picked up the sweat shirt and wrinkled his nose slightly. He held the sweatshirt a little closer to his face and tried to sniff without being obvious. “Great,” Lex said. “I’ll look like some rapper wanna-be.”
Martha smothered a laugh behind her hand. “I’m pretty sure you won’t Lex, but what you also won’t look like is the fabulously wealthy Lex Luthor. Keep the hood up and the glasses on, and you’ll do fine.” She tossed a ball cap at him. “Wear this under the hood.”
He gaped at her. “You’re kidding! You’re not kidding….”
She shook her head. “No, I’m not. It’s either the cap, or a wig, and I just happen to have a blonde one—don’t ask,” she said at Lex’s lifted eyebrow. “Now. Cap.”
Lex didn’t know why he worried about Lucas. He could probably send Martha after him and scare him to death.
******
Amanda was working behind the counter when she heard the door bell ring. She glanced up and saw that Ryan was already greeting the customer—it was Jonathan Kent, with a teenager in tow—a typical kid, sagging jeans and hoody, shades, trying to look hard. She smiled to herself and mentally dismissed him, greeted Jonathan warmly. Martha ordered books from her frequently--she’d been careful to cultivate a friendship.
She found the Kents were oddly reserved for small town residents, particularly living on the outskirts as they did—people who were out-of-the-way tended to want to make connections, unlike the Kents. They seemed to have no close fiends in town or amongst their neighbors. She found their behavior interesting but the Boss didn’t seem to care, beyond their connection to his brother he couldn’t care less about them.
Kent said something to the kid, hesitating for a moment before he spoke. The kid was slow in responding, but quickly nodded as if he hadn’t heard him. He walked towards the history section, and she noticed the way he moved didn’t seem to match his look. She waited. It could be that Kent had hired a new farmhand—though the likelihood that he’d be shopping with a new hand was improbable.
They came to the register and the kid started to put his choice on the counter, Kent took the book from his hand and paid, giving him a hard look when the kid reached toward his pocket. Amanda took the opportunity to look closely at him.
She looked him over sharply. Not a kid after all--under the ill-fitting clothing was a grown man. She studied him carefully as she rang up the books.
“Tell Martha I might have the books she wanted soon, Jonathan.”
“Oh, thanks, she’ll be happy to hear that.” He smiled but made no move to introduce the young man.
There was a faint scar on the man’s upper lip. She smiled. “See you soon.”
Kent waved goodbye as the two walked out the door.
She called Lucas a few minutes later, and then told Ryan that she might have to leave town for a few days—family obligations. It was up to Lucas whether she’d be back or not.
She gave Ryan the rest of the day off, and went into the storeroom, humming quietly. She was certain that the farm’s security shouldn’t be a problem, the most that these places usually had in the way of security were motion sensors, window and door contacts. They might have a system that alerted the cops, more than likely not.
She considered taking a gun, decided against it. A knife would probably be better. She looked over the case she’d opened, and after some thought, chose the plastic knives. She didn’t anticipate any trouble; they were excellent for close work and easy to dispose of. She tucked a length of fishing line in with the knife she chose. Jonathan was healthy and in good shape, she’d make sure to take him from behind.
She tucked the case away, prepared a syringe. There was no way she was going to be responsible for any damage to the Boss’ brother. He was known to be totally unreasonable where he was concerned.
******
Lucas sat back and stared at the ceiling. So Lex was back in Smallville and living with the Kents. That was nice--how cozy and sweet was that? He hoped they were taking good care of him. He growled, his hands shook as he traced a line across the dark surface of the desk. After a moment, he jumped to his feet and raced down to the pool. He ripped his clothes off as he ran, hopping as he tore off boxers and pants and kicked off his moccasins. He leaped into the water at a furious run—hit the water like a knife, stroked hard and fast from one end of the pool to the other, over and over until his lungs burned and his heart pounded hard.
He hung from the edge of the pool, panting in equal parts from exertion and anger. His teeth bared in a smile. In a very short while, Lex was going to be sitting in that crap house by himself---more or less.
He should have told Smith to blow the fucker up—like he ordered for Kent’s place…. he bit at his thumbnail and kicked his feet in the water. Maybe that had been a mistake…shit. Oh well, it was out of his hands now, and even if Kent suspected, there was no way he could connect it to him.
He was up stairs again, towel wrapped around his waist and toweling his hair, at first the sound of the TV in the entertainment room was muffled, he settled the damp towel around his shoulders and realized it was blaring the news that an apartment building in Metropolis had been leveled, several of the residents were missing and presumed to have died in the blast. Nearly an entire block was in flames.
Lucas slammed his fist into the desktop. “Son-of-a bitch! I told that asshole to take the apartment out—not the mother fucking block. Idiot.” He was furious. It was like using a hand grenade to kill fleas on a dog, fucking idiot. He was angry enough to have the fuck-up terminated, but it was his won fault for being too impatient. He should have waited for Amanda to finish the clean-up in Smallville and let her handle this. She was very precise, like a surgeon. He liked that. It reminded him of Lex, somehow.
With a bone deep sigh, he picked up his phone, dialed the LuthorCorp office. “Security,” he barked into the phone and without pause he was connected to his security head.
“Yes sir?” The man didn’t waste his time with small talk, he liked that. “Send Harris out here, I think I need to double my security.”
“Yes sir, would you like me to send Anderson and Wright also?”
“No—Harris will do.” There was a moment of silence and even though the man might not voice a question it was evident in his tone. “Yes sir. By car or helicopter?”
“Helicopter. I’ll be waiting.”
“Okay, he’s on his way.”
Lucas sat back again and smiled. Harris might stop Kent…. he frowned, but not the Flying Freak. He thought about the disastrous turn the Metropolis thing took—was he making the same mistake here…no, he really wanted those hicks dead. They were helping to keep Lex from him. He was frustrated and angry and unsure and it was driving him nuts and he couldn’t remember ever feeling this unsure. What the hell was wrong with him?
what’s wrong with you? You’re suffering paranoid delusions, hearing….
“Oh for god’s sake shut the fuck up. Can’t you bother someone else for once?” Lucas tilted his head back and closed his eyes.
sorry…but you do realize you are compounding your mistake…
Lucas dug his fingers into his scalp, yanked hard at his hair. “I know it, I know it, damn it.”
******
Amanda was nearly in sight of the Kent farmhouse, she had a few books and a bag of chocolate chip cookies on sitting on the seat next to her. The truck bumped over the potholes in the road, and swerved a bit. She cursed as she straightened it on the road. She was oddly on edge, adrenaline making her jumpy instead of alert. Something didn’t feel right. She briefly considered calling Luthor and telling him it was off for today---he never questioned her decisions when it came to her business…she shook her head. Retirement was beginning to look like an attractive option, she was feeling needlessly nervous, after all, they were just a pair of farmers. She could see the farmhouse ahead, and she plastered a smile on her face, ready….
Jonathan was getting mail from the postbox at the end of the drive. She cursed quietly to herself. Damn it, he was supposed to be in the field, away from the house. She’d planned to use the cookies and books to distract Martha while she took care of the brother, take Martha out first, a snap to get rid of her and then on to Jonathan. With what she’d chosen, she’d never get them both unless she could separate them. The cell phone in her pocket vibrated against her breast, and she slowed to a crawl to answer.
“Not today,” The Boss. She felt a degree of relief out of proportion to what was happening.
“Agreed,” she replied and broke the connection. If there were anything else, he’d contact her this evening. She drove past Jonathan, who waved and smiled, she smiled and waved back and kept driving.
She looked at the bag on the seat and took a cookie out---no sense in letting perfectly good chocolate chip cookies go to waste.
******
tbc!
eta: oops-looks like I picked a bad week to stop drinking....
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12/5/05 06:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
12/5/05 06:12 am (UTC)(no subject)
12/5/05 06:41 am (UTC)And I for one can't wait for it!
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12/5/05 07:22 am (UTC)